These Kids Need Help

From (L): Emmanuel, Padmore and Caleb.

Three teenagers from one family at Iron City in Kasoa near Accra, have become paralysed as a result of a strange illness that has afflicted their legs.

Two of the teenagers, Emmanuel Adjetey Sowah, 12, and Padmore Adjetey Sowah, 11, live with their grandfather, Elder Kwame Boadi, whose last child, Caleb Owusu-Boadi, 15, has been afflicted by the same illness.

The disease began with Caleb in 1996, when he was in class three. Two years later, the disease afflicted Emmanuel and then two years later extended to Padmore.

Because of their condition, the children, who have to be assisted in whatever they do, have dropped out of school. They spend all their time indoors unless they are carried outside.

Elder Boadi told the Daily Graphic at his residence that the three children were born without any complications or deformities.

According to Elder Boadi, one day Caleb, his last child, came from school limping on his right leg.

“We were asked to take him to the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital where the disease was identified as that of Duchenne muscular dystrophy, an inherited disorder that involves rapidly worsening muscle weakness”.

Elder Boadi said the doctors at Korle Bu told him after a series of tests on the first child that the disease could not be treated in Ghana.

He said because he could not afford the cost of sending his son abroad, let alone the treatment, he resorted to the use of herbalists and pastors, to get his son healed but without success.

Elder Boadi said two years later his grandson, Emmanuel (his second daughter’s child) began experiencing similar symptons as exhibited by his son (Caleb).

“He also started limping on the right leg after which the disease spread to both legs,” he said.

Two years later, the disease afflicted the third child, Padmore, rendering him incapacitated.

His daughter, Lydia, he said, had become worried about the plight of the children, and “cries a lot anytime she comes round to visit us”.

Elder Boadi said the entire family was currently relying on the little money he made from the sale of empty pure water sachets.

“The father of Emmanuel and Padmore has abandoned them. We have not seen him for some 11 years now,” he lamented, and appealed to religious bodies, non-governmental organisations, churches, organisations, companies and other public-spirited individuals to come to the aid of the children, “who are so desirous of going back to school”.

Interacting with the Daily Graphic, the children said but for their legs they were healthy, and also appealed to all and sundry to help them out of their predicament.

“All we want is to go back to school. We are pleading for support because it is only our grandfather we are relying on,” Padmore, who said he wanted to become a lawyer, told the Daily Graphic.

The wife of Elder Boadi, Doris Boadi, who is also not well after she broke her spine, also called for support, since it was her husband alone who was supporting the family.