Job Osazuwa
He’s just three months old but Chukwuemeka Echedom is going through tough times at the moment. He is down with a life-threatening ailment called transposition of the great arteries, commonly known as hole-in-the-heart.
The clock ticks dangerously for the baby, as his parents wait for help to come their son’s way. The condition of the little boy, as gathered, deteriorates every passing day.
His father, Augustine Echedom, lamented that the baby struggles to breathe and hardly sleeps in the night. And the only way he communicates his pain to his parents is by crying.
The boy was born on November 9, 2017. But the parents quickly noticed that all was not well with their son. On December 12, 2017, he was diagnosed with the congenital condition at Union Diagnosis Centre in Lagos.
Echedom, who hails from Nsugbe, Anambra East Local Government Area of Anambra State, deals in gym equipment in Lagos. He said he has spent every kobo in his wallet and his bank account treating his son but with no improvement. His wife, who is a housewife, has become a shadow of herself over her son’s illness.
“He was admitted to the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) on December 21, 2017. He has severe heart infection. He was placed on oxygen for two weeks and treated and monitored by different specialists.
“He was discharged on January 8. The doctors recommended that we should fly him to India for an open-heart surgery. I have spent above N400,000 so far and I have exhausted all my savings,” he said.
The distraught father said flying Chukwuemeka to India for treatment would cost between N5 million and N6 million. He said the required money was beyond his family’s reach.
“I am calling on Nigerians to support us because I don’t have such money. We have been spending a lot of money to stabilise him. I’m also pleading with companies, NGOs and Anambra State government to help save our son,” he pleaded.
The Echedoms can be reached on 08060646899 and 08170145224. They can be assisted through Echedom Augustine’s account at Fidelity Bank. The account number is 6050316305.