On Tuesday, August 14, Uchechukwu Chidi Ogbonna stormed the Gbiaye Secretariat of the Correspondent Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Warri, Delta State. From his looks, it was obvious that he was troubled and desperate to get out of a situation.
Unfortunately, a meeting of journalists was in progress. Worried that the meeting was dragging for too long, Ogbonna made two attempts to breach the meeting to get the attention of the members and on those two occasions, was sent out. They were unaware of the enormity of the heat he was facing.
But at the end of the meeting, members of the pen profession were trooping out and Ognonna accosted each person, narrating his plight concerning his ailing mother, Mrs Janet Ogbonna who is suffering from malignant cancer of the anus.
“Oga, I am told you work with Tribune titles. Please, help me save the life of my mother. Please, Oga, do this for me and God will reward you,” he pleaded while preventing this reporter, who mistook him for one of the frauds prowling Warri, from walking away in recent times.
He narrated his plight thus: “My mother, Madam Janet Ogbonna, 63 years, needs the help of the federal and state governments, as well as other Nigerians. She is down with a malignant cancer of the anus and we have been treating her for years now, but we no longer have money to continue her treatment,” Ogbonna pleaded.
According to him, his mother, who hails from Imo State but currently stays with her son, who lives along Refinery Road, Warri, Delta State, was diagnosed of the disease at the Federal Medical Centre, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Umuahia, Abia State, in 2008.
He said Mrs Ogbonna, a widow who also lost her daughter in 2004 prior to the infection which has rendered her haggard, has been battling with the treatment through orthodox means.
Ognonna disclosed that he decided to visit the NUJ Secretariat in Warri, following the inability of Mrs. Ogbonna’s immediate family to afford her proper treatment which doctors said could be done through surgical operation in a specialist hospital outside the shores of the country.
Saturday Tribune gathered that the woman will need N5 million for her treatment in India, but immediate family cannot afford that sum and will need the help of both federal and state governments as well as kind Nigerians to overcome the ailment.
He said it has not been easy for the family since their mother developed the ailment, adding that they had taken her to virtually every known hospital in the country where they could get treatment all to no avail.
Ogbonna, who is catering for his sick mother all alone and simultaneously running an academic programme at the Delta State University, Abraka, however, appealed to government, corporate bodies, religious organisations as well as other well-meaning Nigerians to come to his aid.
He said that his family members could not take care of themselves let alone his mother who needed that much for proper treatment. “My mother has been suffering since 2008 and we have gone to several hospitals all to no avail. This is a woman with only four children. One of the children died in 2004 and life has been difficult.
“I don’t want to be an orphan, hence we are making this passionate appeal to the publlic to help us. Please, we beg the public to help us to survive.
Right now, the ailment has degenerated to bad stage and we have been referred to India for proper treatment,” he said.
The young man said that on a daily basis, he spends N2, 000 to buy supplementary drugs to keep his mother alive. He noted that his mother, because of the attendant pains, can’t sleep, sit or stand properly and, therefore, urged the public to help with the sum needed to correct the anomaly.
•Chidi Ogbonna could be reached on GSM number +23408101254091.
