A forty-four (44) year old female graduate teacher and a mother of four (4) children of the Apeguso Presbyterian Junior High School (JHS) in the Asuogyaman District of the Eastern Region has appealed to well-meaning individuals and institutions, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the entire general public to urgently assist her to undergo a brain tumor surgery at the University of Ghana Medical Centre (UGMC) Limited in Accra at the cost of eighty thousand Ghana cedis (Ghc80,000.00).

The patient, Ms. Pearl Amenu, wept uncontrollably when our news team caught up with her and the family over the weekend at Apeguso, saying, ‘I don’t want to die, leaving these young children, including my only four-year-old girl, to their fate’.

Spokesperson and husband of Pearl, Mr. Forster Ananga, told our news team that a couple of weeks ago, the wife had gone through an earlier procedure at the UGMC after being diagnosed with the said brain tumor.

‘Unfortunately, a few weeks after the surgery was done, Pearl started having severe headaches accompanied by seizures’, Mr. Ananga lamented. According to Pearl’s husband, who is also a teacher by profession, each time these seizures occurred, Pearl had to be admitted to the hospital until recently, when the doctors advised her to undergo a second surgery to permanently resolve the problem.

Mr. Ananga lamented that apart from the regular admission costs and transportation expenses, Pearl’s medications are also very expensive, a development that has resulted in a financial burden on the entire family. ‘The family is indebted to many people because we have not only exhausted our many years of savings but also continue to borrow money to deal with my wife’s health condition’, Mr. Annaga sadly intimated.

Mr. Ananga used the opportunity to appeal to all Ghanaians as well as benevolent individuals and institutions within and outside the country to urgently assist them in raising the needed Ghc80,000 for such a surgery. According to him, the family is unable to afford the high cost of the procedure, lamenting that a lot of their resources have already gone down the drain.

Mr. Ananga noted that the wife’s health condition has not only traumatized him as a husband as well as their four (4) children but has also begun to affect the children’s educational careers. According to him, their last child and daughter, Bernaida Sedinam Ananga (Nursery 2 Pupil), who would turn four (4) on Thursday, September 28, 2023, has always been weeping anytime she goes to school.

The eldest child, Dennis Senam Ananga, 14, is a junior high school (JHS) form three pupil. He told our news team in an interview that their only hope for now is in Christ, explaining that their mother’s situation has not only created instability in their educational and social lives but also in their religious activities. ‘Our only hope is God; our fervent prayer is God; our trust is in God’, Dennis intimated, hoping that their voices and plea would touch someone somewhere to save their mother and family from what he described as distraction.

A medical report issued on Ms. Pearl Amenu by the Neurosurgery Department of the UGMC and dated June 12, 2023, explained that Pearl had an excision biopsy done on her about eight (8) weeks ago, which, according to the report, was compatible with features of oligodendroglioma, adding that she had been advised to do de-bulking of the brain tumor, for which she has been looking for funds to undergo the surgery.

The medical report, signed by one Dr. Djan-Baah for Dr. Adams, also disclosed that Pearl is currently on oral levetiracetam 1g twice daily, oral Dexamethasome, and oral omeprazole 20mg daily and has been scheduled for regular Out Patients’ Department (OPD) review by the Neurosurgery team.

Mr. Foster Ananga disclosed that any further information on the wife or intended support for Pearl from any quarters could be obtained through his contact number, +233 244948713. The public could also contact Ms. Julian Timinka Ananga, sister to Mr. Forster Ananga, at the Births and Deaths Registry, Prampram Office, on +233 242953875.

Mr. Ananga used the opportunity to appeal to all Ghanaians, including the clergy, to remember them in their prayers. According to him, the other kids, Oswin Seyram Ananga, 12 and a JHS Form 1 pupil, as well as Edmund Delanyo Ananga, 7, and a P3 pupil, are all being given some psycho-social support to enable them to go through these trying moments.

Story: Benjamin Makafui Attipoe, Apeguso, Eastern Region