Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan
Mrs Juliet Nkechi Unaidet, a 43-year-old mother of five, is currently battling for life with ovarian cancer.
Experts said ovarian cancer often goes undetected until it has spread within the pelvis and stomach. At the late stage, it is more difficult to treat and can be fatal.
Unaidet, a petty trader that sells fairly used clothes and other materials at Bodija Market in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, was diagnosed of ovarian cancer at the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, where she is currently on admission. She needs over N2 million to complete the treatment.
At the teaching hospital, staging laparotomy surgery was done on Tuesday, December 31. Staging laparotomy, according to experts, is a procedure in which a particular body region is surgically examined to assess the extent of disease with the purpose of determining the stage or extension of a cancer.
The woman’s husband, Kendrick, who is into electrical works, said the family had spent close to N1 million so far on the treatment. About N2 million would still be needed for the real treatment.
Doctors at UCH had said the surgery was just a relief on her to face the real medical procedures, which would include chemotherapy procedures stage 1-6 in successive format.
“We have spent our meagre sum of over N600,000 already and yet the doctors are saying they are yet to start treating her condition and asked us to raise about N2 million for six phases of chemotherapy procedures,” the husband said.
Kendrick recalled that his wife was first admitted to the antenatal care unit of UCH in 1998 and was managed for a case of multiple pregnancy and was subsequently delivered of a set of female triplets on May 29, 1999.
Two of the triplets are alive and have completed secondary school education. While Precious wants to study Law at the university, the second one wants to study Medicine. The fourth child, Peculiar, is 13 years old and she is in JSS III. The last child of the family, Emmanuel is eight years old and is in Primary III.
Precious said: “My mum’s health has caused emotional depression in me and she is the best mum in the world. She loves her children and takes care of us very well. She is a good mother and I can say that she is a good wife too to my daddy.
“I want to use this medium to appeal to Nigerians, corporate organisations, individuals and philanthropists to kindly help my mum financially and God will bless you all.”
From her sick bed
Also on her sick bed, Juliet has appealed to Nigerians to come to her aid so that she would not die.
Kendrick, the husband, said the family had spent a huge amount of money so far on theatre bills, CT scan and review, full blood count test and review, oxygen, drugs and consumables and more. He said the cost of drugs ranges between N10,000 and NI5,000 daily while oxygen is N7,500 daily. He stated that the doctors have recommended that chemotherapy should commence immediately.
Mrs Juliet Unaidet is on admission at South West Four of UCH and her hospital number is 956813. Her husband, Kendrick Unaidet, can be reached on 07032791922, while Juliet can also be reached on 08033009695.
Those wishing to help financially may send such support to Kendrick Unaidet’s account at Guaranty Trust Bank. The account number is 0029605506 (Savings).