Since 45-year-old Fatima Muftawu was diagnosed with kidney disease nine months ago, the life of her family has been reduced to visiting hospitals and looking for avenues to scrounge financial support for her next hospital appointment.

Fatima must visit the hospital three times a week for dialysis to remove waste products and excess fluid from her systems since her kidney has stopped functioning properly. The process is required to ensure her survival, without which she might die.

Doctors describe her condition as End Stage Renal Disease or Chronic Kidney Disease, and requires hemodialysis to purify her blood.

Her husband, Afa Muftawu, narrating the unfortunate incident to JoyNews, said only a few months ago his wife fell ill and they had to visit different hospitals in search of care but to no avail, until she was told her kidney had failed.

The news, he said, hit the family hard, created a lot of anxiety, and worse still, leaving him with the high risk of losing his wife if they failed to raise the needed fees to undergo dialysis.  

The weekly visits, Mr Muftawu said, cost more than GH₵1,000.

Sad and broken, Muftawu who could barely manage to raise his voice, said “Her sickness has worried us a lot. Since it started till date, we have spent over GH₵50,000 but it has reached a stage that we have to appeal to the public for help to continue her treatment.”

Fatima, herself deeply affected by her condition and the family’s predicament, said she was shocked by the news of her illness and felt as if her world had come to an end.

Fatima said her life has come to so depend on dialysis to the extent that on weeks the family is unable to raise the fees for treatment and skip treatment, she really struggles to do anything meaningful.

“When I am able to go for the dialysis, I am able to move around and I feel a bit healthy, however, when I fail to go for dialysis, I feel so weak and lay down the whole day,” she said.

Zakiya Muftawu, daughter of Fatima told JoyNews that ever since her mother was hit by the ‘strange’ disease, life has not been the same.

They have had to sell some of their belongings to afford occasional visits to the hospital, she said, lamenting that there is nothing more to sell again.

Almost in tears, she lamented that “In a week we spend more than GH₵1,000 and sometimes the day will come when you do not know what to do again, you just have to struggle to gather and eat something. I am even going through emotional trauma.”

The family is therefore appealing to philanthropists and others moved by their plight, to reach out to them on the number 0593038842.