Her case is quite pathetic. Her mum, Toyin Oladubu, a deaf and dumb woman, was impregnated by a callous man who thereafter abandoned the lady and took a walk. Three months after she was delivered of her baby, Toyin, Omolara’s mum, met her demise.
Indeed, while life treats some people graciously and lavishes them with good fortunes, it dishes out terrible blows to others, making them victims of tragic circumstances beyond their control. Poor Omolara Oladubu, 14, belongs to the latter category.
She became motherless when she was just a tot, a three-month-old. That was when her mother died, leaving her in the fragile hands of her weak and old maternal grandmother, Madam Comfort Oladubu. Till date, Omolara bears her maternal surname, Oladubu. Her father, alleged to have deserted her mother while she was still in the womb, has never been found, not to talk of being responsible for her upkeep.
Madam Oladubu, a septuagenarian, has been the one taking care of Omolara since she lost her mother in 1996. And the old woman has done quite a lot for the young girl. She has always ensured that the girl is well fed and clothed, just as she made sure that Omolara has had the best of education that she could afford, from primary to secondary school.
But then the unexpected happened. Omolara was in Basic 7 when a strange illness gripped her. According to her grandma, the girl had one day suddenly complained of a sharp pain in her left leg. Although there was no visible wound on the leg but she was groaning profusely as the pain in her leg ravaged her entire body.
The situation unexpectedly grew worse shortly after her complaints as the leg in question became swollen from the knee to the ankle. She was rushed to the hospital thereafter, and a quick x-tray was conducted on the leg. A diagnosis later revealed that she had a medical condition known as acute osteomyelitis.
Incidentally, that later turned out to be the beginning of her trauma as a myriad of health hazards soon followed.
Fighting back tears, Madam Oladubu told Daily Sun about the many steps she took to save her granddaughter. Hear her: “After the diagnosis that Omolara is having osteomyelitis, we immediately took her to a private specialist hospital at Ijanikin area of Lagos. The consultant orthopaedic surgeon there said that Omolara would be admitted and placed on anti-biotic therapy for three weeks.
But she ended up spending more than five months in the hospital and her condition was getting worse. This was even after she had undergone four surgeries. Her leg was incised to drain the pus collected therein and the resultant wound refused to heal despite series of treatments carried out on it.
“I had to request that she be discharged from the hospital and I arranged for her to be moved to another hospital in Yaba where it was diagnosed that she was also having a pathological fracture of the left tibia in addition to the wound in the leg. Raising our hope that all would soon be well, the doctor in charge made Omolara to pass through another round of three surgeries that lasted for three months after which she was discharged and placed on follow-up as an outpatient till March 2010.”
Did her condition improve? Certainly not, said her grandmother. Madam Oladubu looked sad as she replied. “No,” she said, wiping off the tears streaming down her wrinkled cheeks. A distraught Madam Oladubu continued: “At that juncture, we felt that her condition deserved a more drastic approach and we took her to the National Orthopaedic Hospital (NOH), in Igbobi in March 2010. Initially, she was attended to by Dr. Adebule who referred her to one Dr. Idowu. Dr. Idowu did his best to arrest the virus eating up her leg to no avail. Her leg was already becoming short as the virus was eating up the bones fast. She had also become crippled on the leg.
“Omolara spent four months at the NOH before she was again moved to the Nigerian Navy Reference Hospital, Ojo where she again underwent two surgeries within two months of her admission. The last operation done by her doctor, Dr. Omale, also a Naval Commodore, appeared to be yielding positive results. It was a major operation where a bone shaft was transported from the left leg fibula and attached to the left tibia by using the papinaeu method. But no sooner was the operation done than the doctor was transferred to Warri and that hampered the effective follow-up required.”
It has been eighteen months of agonizing pain for Omolara now as her leg’s condition continues to deteriorate. She has since been out of school and would continue to be if something is not done fast. A ray of hope came recently when her family consulted an Indian consultant Orthopaedic surgeon, Dr. Sanjay Vashi, via the internet, who assured that Omolara’s travails would be over as soon as she’s flown to his hospital, Hiranandani Fortis, in Mumbai, Indian, for a comprehensive surgery.
But there’s a snag; the surgery would cost a whooping N5 million. According to Omolara’s grandmother, the cost covers the surgeries, drugs, medical investigations, admission fees and travel arrangements, among others. The old woman is appealing to well-meaning Nigerians to assist her granddaughter to live and walk again. Omolara’s account details with Wema Bank are: Oladubu Omolara Oluwatobi, with account number 1322125625917. Madam Oladubu can be reached at 08028837057.
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