Encomium
This is one of the disheartening occurrences in recent time, that doctors of Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi-Araba, Lagos may have connived with the family of the Bilateral Ovarian Cancer disease victim, Mayowa Ahmed to collect over $100, 000 (over N32 million) from the public through a gofundme account for selfish use other than for the proposed surgery to restore health to the ailing lady.
It is so worrisome that this may soil the name of some public figures, especially Aramide Kasumu, founder of Lifestake Foundation and Toyin Aimakhu, Nigerian actress, who genuinely called out the public for support to raise the total sum needed for the surgery.
Barely two days after $100, 850 was obtained through gofundme.com aside from other donations to her direct access bank account, it was revealed by doctors that Mayowa has Ovarian cancer but that it had gotten to stage 4 which was beyond treatment and that no hospital in the world could treat Mayowa, whose case was already extreme.
According to the doctors, they blatantly denied issuing out any medical report advising her to seek treatment at Emory Hospital, in Atlanta, USA, but rather advised her family to care for her at home as she was unlikely to survive the illness.
As part of an 8 minute interview, the Nigerian actress who had to leave a scene where she was part a movie said, “They tagged me, she sent a message to me… they said she’s my huge fan saying she had cancer and she needed help and wanted me to come… I showed the doctor the (medical) report and the doctor said ‘which report?’. They said it was a fake report.
“They just came up with the plan on Sunday. They now came to LUTH to appear as if they were in LUTH. When they saw me they said I did not help them to beg for money… that they don’t know anything.”
On her part, Aramide Kasumu, the founder of Lifestake Foundation said: “It started from her ovaries and moved to her liver, which gave her liver metastasis. Basically, it is not curable, and if it is curable, it is the just Grace of God. When I got the story, I took it up, and I called the CMD to get her to LUTH. Before she got to LUTH, they were already waiting for her. When I brought her to LUTH, the first thing the doctor said to me is that no airline will carry her, because she is too frail to travel. Before I brought her to LUTH, she was at home. It was almost as if they (the family) already knew what the case was. You know how the doctors will tell you that the cancer is already in the last stage, let her stay home.
“They said they had already called the hospital in America, they needed $100,000. They mailed it to me, I looked at it. It now dawned on me that the hospital in America said treatment is going to cost $3,000 – $30,000 per treatment, and she needed 10-50 treatments. Technically, what she needed was N150 million, but that wasn’t what they raised. All they just picked was the $100,000.
“The hospital also said to them that she needs $1,780 for an invitation. There was no invitation, no visa, nothing! So they already knew what they were doing from the onset.”
However, the doctors insisted “that they don’t know anything.”
The Nollywood actress, Toyin Aimakhu, arrived the premises of LUTH, with policemen to arrest those who scammed the public but was sent out by a matron and other staff of the hospital.
The elder brother of the sick Mayowa, who claimed to work with Access Bank and identified himself as Ahmed, called Toyin Aimakhu to spite her and mock her efforts in spearheading the fundraising; presently, no member of Mayowa’s family is within reach and no one could gain access on visiting their home.
The controversial subject has been taken up by the Lagos State government to reveal the truth.
– ‘Seyifunmi Adebote for encomium.ng
