ROSELYN Etsemobor’s dreams of obtaining a good Education, a good job and a blissful marital life blessed with kids are crashing before her very eyes. A mysterious tumour has invaded her face and indeed threatens her very life.
The 34-year-old lady, once loved and admired by her acquaintances, has since been running from pillar to post seeking solution to her troubles.
Her tribulation began six years ago:
“ I woke up one morning in 2006, and was taking my bath when I noticed that the upper side of my right eye was swollen. After some days, I went to Ikorodu General Hospital where it was discovered that my left was not seeing well. They directed me to LASUTH for further tests. At LASUTH, doctors recommended that I go for some tests but I could not do them because of lack of money. It was to cost N78, 000.”
While casting around to raise the money, Roselyn said, she had an accident in which she was hit on the very “trouble spot” on her eye, thus worsening the situation. “However, I later learnt that with drugs, the condition could be managed. When they started the treatment, the swelling disappeared and I thought I was okay. But it later came back. I went to different doctors and they said there was nothing wrong with the eye.”
“I later went back to LASUTH. The doctor that was supposed to do the surgery said he was scared to do it, but later agreed to do it.”
A day in November 2009 was picked for the surgery, but on the appointed day, Roselyn said, the surgeon did not turn up.
“They said he was on leave. The other doctors at the hospital volunteered to do it, but I noticed they were only using me for experiment. I felt bad. All the while I was going there, they didn’t give me ordinary paracetamol tablets. But as God would have it, I Eventually got in touch with some American doctors from UT Medical Group Inc., Department of Ophthalmology, Hamilton Eye Institute, Tennesse, United States. I have been communicating with them and they said they could correct the left eye and also do the surgery on the right eye. According to the hospital, the estimated cost of the test, surgery and other treatments is $100,000 (N16million) …”
Roselyn, the first daughter of her parents, was a fashion designer before her problem started.
“Because of my situation, my mother is now sick. We have exhausted all the money we have. I have not been able to go to my shop because it is when you have good health that you can work... It is so bad that if I want to enter any commercial vehicle, the drivers will not want to carry me. Some would even not sit beside me. It got to a point I started sleeping in the shop, ” the Edo State indigene lamented.
So far, Roselyn disclosed, she has gathered N4million from sympathisers . But that remains a far cry from the N16million she needs for treatment abroad: “I want people to come to my aid so that I can be okay and go back to my work.”
Spearheading the campaign for Roselyn’s treatment, is the Lady of Africa Foundation, a body that helps the less-privileged with past records of successfully spearheading the treatments of similar cases.
A photocopy of a mail from UT Medical Group, Inc, Tennessee, USA to The President, Ekklesia International Centre, Surulere, Lagos, made available to The Guardian by Roselyn suggests some correspondence on the issue of treatment in respect of the subject’s eye tumour.
Donations can reach Roselyn through Zenith Bank Account 1003831114; Phone:08093287614
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