Neglected Elephantiasis Patient Appeals For Help

50-year-old ELIZABETH YAA YEBOAH, who hails from Asiakwa in the East Akyem Municipality of the Eastern Region has been battling elephantiasis for about 16-years and has since been completely abandoned by her family members.

She is therefore making a passionate appeal to the general public and corporate organizations to help her raise an amount of GHC10,000 to enable her undertake a successful surgery as her condition keeps worsening.

Reports gathered indicate that the Doctors at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital say the victim will need GHC6,000 for the surgery excluding other medical and non medical expenses quantum at GHC4,000.

Telling her story amidst tears, Maame Yaa Yeboah who has been abandoned by her family said, that she cannot afford the the cost of the surgery and that without the help of the public and corporate bodies she is scared of losing her life.

''I am suffering and I cannot do anything since my family has disowned me and its left with myself and my three children who are very young and unemployed. Two have even dropped out from school and life is very difficult; please let them just help me to undergo surgery to relieve this pain,'' she agonizingly appealed.

She noted that, she was infected with the disease since 1999 and her condition keeps deteriorating which has even paralyzed her.

The worried woman told this reporter that she was asked to pay four million old Cedis for treatment at Korle bu Teaching Hospital when the disease started coming up sixteen years ago but she was unable to pay hence depended on herbal medicines for treatment at home but with no positive results to cure.

We are also told that Yaa Yeboah was a very active business woman dealing in the sale of fishes at Asiakwa before this unfortunate disease visited her.

A Physician Assistant in Charge of Asiakwa Clinic, Rebecca Dede Bantey, when contacted by this reporter said she met the victim about a year ago when she assumed Office at the Clinic.

''The woman needed help because she had suffered for too long and therefore needs rehabilitation and plastic surgery on the affected leg,'' she said.

Touching on the cause of Elephantiassis, she said the disease is caused by lymphatic filariasis, a parasitic disease resulting from the bite of infected mosquito which leads to inflammation of the lymph, adding that, it is commonly caused by Wucherera Bancroft parasite but can also be caused by Bruneian Malay and Bruneian Timor.

Anyone Touched By This Story And Willing To Help, Should Please Contact The Reporter Daniel Bampoe On These Phone Numbers:

+233 241 48 26 36

+233 244 91 69 93

E-mail: [email protected]

2014-02-07 15.13.41