13-Year-old boy needs GH¢50,000 for medical treatment

The health condition of a 13-year-old boy, Ishmael Entsie, at Gomoa Akropong Number One, a village in the Gomoa West District in the Central Region, is worsening by the day as his family struggles to raise the needed amount for treatment.

Ishmael's limbs cannot function properly due to cerebral palsy at birth, leaving him bedridden for the past 13 years. He currently needs GH¢50,000 for physiotherapy and other treatments to correct the anomaly to make him walk well.

His parents, who are peasant farmers, say they are unable to raise the amount. They have, therefore, appealed to philanthropists, financial institutions, organisations and kind-hearted individuals for support through the Graphic Needy Fund to enable their son to undergo the relevant treatment sessions.

The appeal was made separately at the St Joseph Orthopaedic Hospital in Koforidua and Swedru Government Hospital in Swedru where Ishmael had been taken for treatment.

According to the Medical Director in charge of Orthopaedic Surgery at the hospital, Dr Hubert Potakey, Ishmael suffered from cerebral palsy at birth and that made him unable to walk well.

Dr Potakey said the patient would first go through preliminary treatment such as physiotherapy to correct the anomaly. He explained that if such treatment failed, then Ishmael would have to undergo surgery to correct the anomaly.

Dr Potakey said the condition affected the development of the brain, and that children with that condition normally had their arms, legs and trunk appearing floppy or having stiff muscles.

That, he indicated, made Ishmael unable to walk. The father of Ishmael, Kwabena Entsie, told the Daily Graphic that when the wife was seven months pregnant with the boy, doctors at the Swedru Government Hospital told her the foetus was not developing properly during one of her antenatal clinic visits.

The cost of the treatment was GH¢100, but he said he was not able to afford the amount till the birth of Ishmael. He said Ishmael was born premature, at seven months, with that condition.

All donations are to be channelled through GCB Bank account number 1061130003469 or MoMo number 0245311063.

Writer's email:
haruna.wunpini@graphic.com.gh