A lecturer at the Department of History and Diplomatic Studies, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye, Ogun State, Dr Soji Oyeranmi, has appealed to Nigerians to assist him in saving the life of his only child, Esther Oyinkansola, who has been suffering from traumatic complications of cerebral palsy for over 10 years.
Dr Oyeranmi told our correspondent in Ibadan on Tuesday that Oyinkansola needed N9 million for an urgent medical treatment of the disease in Germany.
As the university don narrated, his daughter was diagnosed with spastic quadriparesis cerebral palsy at birth about 11 years ago, which has since placed her on anti-epileptic drugs.
He said, “Oyinkansola’s tortuous and agonising journey began on April 11, 2009 when she was delivered at Jericho Nursing Home, Ibadan, after prolonged labour through Caesarean section surgery. After the delivery and minor cleansing, the nurses wrapped the baby with clothes and put her on the bed with a very old lantern by her side.
“I asked one of the doctors if it would not be necessary to give the baby thorough and special attention and the response I got was that she was 100 percent okay.
“However, I got the shock of my life when about three days after birth, the nurses called my attention to the malfunctioning of the baby’s left arm.
“Before this, she had cried incessantly and nobody had a solution.
“Our baby was thereafter taken to the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, where she was diagnosed with cerebral palsy in 2010.
“Since then, Oyinkansola has been in and out of hospitals and the family has been undergoing this trauma.
“She has had little or no progress in her journey towards recovery due to the decrepitude of Nigeria’s medical facilities and lack of expert medical capacity.”
Dr Oyeranmi spoke of new medical technologies now available for the therapeutic management of cerebral palsy and which Oyinkansola can benefit from.
“The bad news is that these new technologies are expensive and unaffordable for poor families like ours.
“One such new medical technology that we are seeking for Oyinkansola is the autologous stem therapy with laser activation available at Dr Michael Weber’s medical facility in Germany,” he said, adding that Dr Weber had invited his daughter to his medical facility in Germany through an invitation letter dated April 30, 2020, and the family needed financial assistance.
The girl is expected to receive the stem therapy, which was, according to Oyinkansola’s Consultant at the UCH, useful in the treatment of musculoskeletal disorders and plays a significant role in the treatment of cerebral palsy without any adverse effects.
