From Desmond Mgboh, Kano
For Asabe Mohammed Salisu, a nursing staff at the Federal College of Education (Technical) Bichi, Kano State, life was apparently on the sunny side until a few years ago when she had a motor accident on her way to Lagos.
According to the widow and mother of three, that particular tragic accident, which nearly costs her life, changed her life story and left her broken ever since.
Speaking with Daily Sun at the National Orthopedic Hospital, Dala, Kano, Asabe told her sad story: “I had an accident at about two years now, on my way to and was hospitalised at the General Hospital, Ijebu-Ode, after the crash.
“After I was discharged from, I was using a walking aide (stick). It was manageable, but difficult all the same. But last year, about four to five months back, I fell down in my bathroom and hit my back on a hard object.
“And since then, I cannot walk again. I have been having deep and incontrollable pains, especially on the side that connects to my right legs. In the night and in the day, the pain is excruciating. I cannot lift myself from one point to another as a result the pain that is stuck inside me.
“At the initial point, I thought it was one of those medical infirmities that would soon go with a routine treatment. But nowhere! I have tried a traditional treatment where I spent a lot of money, but it didn’t stop the pains.
“I was even referred to a town called Alapare, in Lagos State. They said that there was a renowned bonesetter there that would help reset the affected bones. I spent lots of money there, more so as I paid heavily for accommodation in the town. But all these efforts proved abortive as the pains did not go.
“I returned to Bichi to resume, but unfortunately the condition persisted and the pains oh my God! In fact, it increased by the day and I could no longer endure. Then, I went back to the National Orthopedic Hospital, Dala, where they requested that I do an MIR.
“After the MIR, it indicated that my back bone was broken and it just has to be repaired. My consultants, Dr Jones and Dr Kawo, warned me that if the compression persists, I might not be able to use the right legs again.
“Am I worried? Yes I am not just worried, but I am terrified. I am very worried about their prediction about not being able to work again. The only way is to get a quick medical assistance to pay the bills and do an urgent surgery.
“The surgery would cost about one million naira. But the painful truth is that I do not have such money anywhere. The much I had had been expended in the course of this problem over the past two years.
“My hope is in Allah. I do not have any money, but I very much hope that that Allah would send me a helper at this time of my life. I am appealing to members of the public and to anybody that is touched by my story to assist me. The pain is growing from bad to worse.
“I want to use this medium to appeal, in the name of Allah, to Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, to come to my aid. I am also calling on our numerous philanthropists and religious organisations to assist me.”
A veteran journalist, Prince Ajayi Memeyattan, said: “Her story is tragic, but not hopeless. Hope still lies in the horizon, though time is of essence. That is why we are involved.”
The octogenarian, who is one of the fathers of journalism in northern Nigeria, told Daily Sun that Asabe’s case was an appeal to “ everyone of us, who could easily recall her immense contributions to the Kano society as a nursing officer.
“She is good mother, a very caring and competent nurse, very affectionate to others in pains or in need of care. I think the least we owe her is join our voices in appealing to the generality of good people in the state and beyond to come and help her pay her medical bills and get her to walk again.”