After my letter to David Adeleke seeking medical support for Amaka Laja Adedoyin, the girl without anus went viral on social media, it became imperative that I relate my pathetic encounter with her on this page.
An ordinary normal meeting with Amaka Laja Adedoyin shows you a beautiful and bubbly young girl in her teens. Despite her shyness apparently caused by the complex her condition creates in her character, nothing ever gives her away as some one in distress. But indeed and truly so, Amaka is in real distress. She was born without anus and battles to live every day. Even after taking less food, a human being must have to pass excreta. Every one wonders how she copes.
Amaka who had just returned from school on the day of the chat, quickly changed into a house wear and tells FRED IWENJORA the story of her many battles to stay alive and how she has coped over the years.
She also calls on Nigerians to urgently come to her aid before it’s too late. It was a sobering and pathetic encounter.
According to her “I realised I was born different quite early. I saw other children going to toilet when I don’t.
“It has been a very difficult way to live. Now I am older, I often imagine what it was like when I was much younger and the problems I may have given my mum and her nurses. Even now, I am a big problem to them.” She heaves a sigh
Daily routine
“My daily routine changed from the way it was when I was a baby. Since I became older, I wake up at about 3 a.m daily. And it is to ease myself. I then return to bed and wake up at 5 a.m to prepare for school.
I skip breakfast because it would add to my woes of not knowing how to pass it out.
“Feeding for me is a big task because I cannot contain it. I feel scared to eat because I worry about going to toilet. I eat only lunch and dinner. My best food is yam and egg sauce but I still won’t eat much no matter how I loved it.
If you see me staring at ice cream and milk when my siblings like other children rush at it eeh.. I dared not go there because it would disturb my system.
In school, some of my classmates wonder why I always go to the toilet. If not for my best friend in school named Uche, life would have been so miserable for me in school. She always stood by me and defended me. I like her so much.
“I want to be an artist when I grow up. I easily draw people and things and I love mathematics a lot too. Maths comes easy to me and I like to teach it to any one who doesn’t understand it.
“I always feel ashamed of my life and love to stay on my own where people won’t see me. Sometimes I ask God why He created me this way but can’t find answer. I also wonder for how long this would be. Then it dawns on me that it must be for a purpose. But I have to be alive to fulfil this purpose. The pain and discomfort is much.
“I want to be able to live better than I am currently living. I have heard that doctors can help me live better but the operation is costly and my mother Mrs. Laja Adedoyin cannot afford it. My mother is the reason that I am still alive today. She keeps doing whatever she could. Doctors continue to send us for tests and more tests. Please can any one out there help me? If you can help me please do so fast as delay is very dangerous. I can give phone number and account number of Hearts of Gold Children’s Hospice here for any one who wishes me alive; Hearts of Gold Children’s Hospice, Zenith Bank account number 1011384170
You can reach the hospice on phone on 08033184840
At this juncture, her mother Mrs Laja Adedoyin who is the founder of Hearts of Gold Children’s Hospice joins in the conversation. And without mincing words, she pleads that Amaka needs urgent medical help in order to see her living a normal life.
According to Adedoyin “Amaka Laja Adedoyin was abandoned at birth at LUTH whose management reported her abandonment to the police and ministry of social welfare of Lagos. When Hearts of Gold heard her story, we accepted to parent her. She was about 2 years old when she came to Hearts of Gold and has lived a life of permanent discomfort despite that she tries to cheer up. We had traveled to Dubai and Spain for intricate life threatening surgeries to create room for her to excrete through a pipe. That was when she was little. Now as a JSS 1 student, she is growing into adulthood and more surgeries are required. Her chest and abdominal region are pushed forward as she continues to feel that discomfort more than before. She is getting much more conscious of the situation and stigmatisation. Because she does not control her bowels, she wets herself without knowing and is permanently subjected to diapers. I humbly seek the assistance of all and sundry to support us to see that Amaka gets a normal existence so that her future could be as normal as possible. She is growing into an exteremely talented young woman.
Joke Bello has been the closest nurse Amaka would ever have with over 14 years experience at the Hospice. She says “Amaka lives a solitary life on her own. She likes to hide from people. If anything makes her not to go to toilet on time, she wets herself. Her condition is one in town and she often believes the next person is conscious and looking at her so she coils. Her chocolate drink is made lighter with much more water and without sugar. This is so as not to run her tummy. I wish that Nigerians come out and help Amaka now” she submits
*Hearts of Gold Children’s Hospice, Zenith Bank account number 1011384170, Phone; 08033184840
