Ayodeji Ake
To rescue children from leukaemia, Timilehin Leukaemia Foundation (TLF), staged a voluntary blood donation exercise in partnership with the Lagos State Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) to make provision of blood for children suffering from leukaemia admitted in the hospital.
Addressing journalists during the exercise, the Founder, TLF, Mrs. Modupe Oyedele narrated how she exhausted her financial strength to expensive treatment of leukaemia for her only child whom she eventually lost.
“The amount you spend treating leukaemia children cannot be quantified because, when you are treating a child with leukaemia, infections will come in which is not part of the treatment regime. Then you have to get blood and platelets because he needs to take a lot of them,†she said.
Modupe who lamented of scarcity of blood in the blood banks, urged Nigerians to embrace voluntary blood donation as it has been proven safe if an individual is taking enough water and vegetables. She pleaded for government intervention on the expensive treatment of cancer.
She said: “When they told me that my child had leukaemia, I did not know what it was then. I had to go to the internet to read about it. But now that I know, I want to go to the nooks and crannies of the country to create awareness because some people will bring their children to hospital and when doctors say it is cancer, they will run away. When I went to UK with my son, the doctor that attended to us was a Nigerian. Each hospital should have laboratories where children can be tested at the early stage.
“I know what mothers go through in hospitals taking care of these children. Even some mothers do not have money to buy syringes not to talk of paying for chemotherapy. And doctors cannot tell you the exact amount it will take to treat a child with leukaemia. Today’s blood donation is for children living with leukaemia in LASUTH. We intend to do this thrice annually.â€
