A Nigerian boy’s battle to save his father’s life has received a major boost after the Leukaemia Society and the African Caribbean Leukaemia Trust backed his campaign.
Two year old Chidi Agwu’s unemployed mother wrote a heart wrenching letter on behalf of her son to a London-based Nigerian journalist, appealing for help in raising some £50,000 for a bone marrow transplant for his father, Ndubuisi, who has been diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia. Information about Mr Agwu’s plight was passed to the ACLT, a Croydon-based charity that supports and assists African and Caribbean people suffering from Leukaemia, which decided to back an appeal on the family’s behalf.
In the letter, written from the town of Owerri in eastern Nigeria, little Chidi’s mother, Ihuoma, wrote on behalf of her son:
I am calling on the good people of Britain of all races. Please give my son a chance to have a life by saving his father. I am an unemployed housewife. Without my husband, we have no hope. We are already heavily in debt.
38 year old Ndubuisi was flown from Nigeria to London in early September 2001 because Nigeria lacks the medical facilities to treat him. With an annual salary of less than four thousand pounds a year coupled with a high exchange rate and a wife and child to feed, Ndubuisi could not afford the trip abroad. It was through the contributions of friends, relatives, local churches and charities in Nigeria that they were able to raise £23,000 for his trip abroad and initial chemotherapy treatment at Guy’s Hospital. But now the money has been exhausted and he’s been told chemotherapy isn’t working.
To give Ndubuisi the best chance of being cured he needs a bone marrow transplant. Fortunately, one of his brothers has been identified as a suitable bone marrow donor.
ACLT Chairman, Orin Lewis said: It is sort of the reverse of what we are used to at ACLT. We usually try to find suitable matches for bone marrow transplants where donors can take years sometimes to find. But in this case the donor has been found but there’s no money and he can’t do it on the NHS because he’s not a resident. But if he doesn’t do it he dies and two-year old Chidi loses the chance to grow up with a father. It is a really sad situation.
Ndubuisi has been greatly weakened by chemotherapy and a liver infection. His only chance for life is a bone marrow transplant. Dr Robert Carr Cosultant Haematologist at Guy’s Hospital said:
Because Mr Agwu is not a resident of the UK the cost of his procedure will be in the region of £40,000 - £50,000. Unless Mr Agwu is able to raise this amount of money in the near future he will not be able to have this curative treatment. Because of the nature of the leukaemia the bone marrow transplant would need to take place in March 2002. The hospital will need to have assurance that the money was available by the end of February.
After visiting Mr Agwu recently in hospital, Jason Scott of the ACLT said: I’ve met Ndu and his wife and child and they are a truly lovely God fearing family. I am calling on anyone and everyone who can to send a contribution. Whatever you can afford. We can help to build a future for little Chidi by offering his father a chance to live. We can help to save a life to change a life.
For further details, please contact ANDREW ONYEARU (Office phone number: 02076357777. E-mail: solicitors@virgine.net)
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