A 25-year-old student nurse battling kidney disease fears her dreams may be shattered as her family cannot afford the cost of dialysis and a kidney transplant.
Baduweh Dephine Kafela is currently out of school after doctors confirmed both her kidneys are not functioning properly as financial barriers are compounding her health condition.
Her current health condition began at age 22 when she started experiencing unusual medical conditions.
Kafela had no idea that doctors at the Tamale Teaching Hospital would diagnose her with kidney failure.
Her childhood dream of becoming a nurse began at the Zuarungu Nursing Training College in the Upper East Region, but now it is threatened by her current condition.
Her family needs to raise funds for a kidney transplant, but she must first undergo dialysis treatments, which presents another financial challenge.
Kafela indicated “A few months ago, I was taken to the hospital and diagnosed with kidney failure. They said the ultimate treatment is a kidney transplant, which involves a lot. It costs about thirty-five thousand dollars ($35,000) to forty-five thousand dollars ($45,000), and that is my issue because my parents cannot raise that amount to help me”.
She added, “It has affected my education a lot because, as of now, I am supposed to be in class, but I’m just home with my mom. I have deferred my course and am now in the house. It is really disturbing me a lot; I hardly sleep over it.”
Kafela’s distraught mother describes her daughter’s condition as her worst nightmare.
She said, “I was at home and she was in school when they called me one day to say she was not well and that I should come for her. I went, and all her legs were swollen, so I brought her home. I took her to the Paga hospital, where they ran some tests.
“After five days, the doctor called me and said all her kidneys were damaged, so I was asked to rush her to Tamale Teaching Hospital. We were there for about four to six weeks, and the doctor later said my daughter’s kidneys were no longer functional, so she needed a kidney transplant. And here I am, with nothing.”
The thought of raising $35,000 to $45,000 is a constant agony for the mother and her ailing daughter.
The family is thus appealing for financial support to address Kafela’s medical condition.
