The family of a 12-year-old boy, Enoch Ayomide, is appealing to the public for financial support to enable him undergo corrective surgery after complications from a previous operation left him unable to pass stool through his anus.
Enoch’s father, Mr. Paul Ayomide, explained on Monday that the family requires N4m to pay for a reversal surgery that would restore his son’s bowel function.
The Lagos-based teacher pleaded with well-meaning Nigerians, government agencies, and humanitarian organisations to come to his son’s aid, noting that the condition had prevented the boy from living a normal life for more than a year.
Enoch, who should be in school, has been bedridden with his intestines protruding through his abdomen. According to his father, the boy has been unable to pass stool through his anus for over 14 months, relying instead on an abdominal opening.
He lamented, “This N4m is standing between my son and a return to normal life. He is only 12. He has not known what it feels like to wear normal clothes, eat freely, or go to school since early 2024.”
Mr. Ayomide explained that their ordeal began when Enoch developed recurring stomach pain initially mistaken for malaria and typhoid. After relying on injections and drugs from an auxiliary nurse, the condition worsened, forcing them to seek hospital care.
He narrated a series of misdiagnoses, including a scan suggesting kidney trouble, before doctors at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) eventually performed surgery.
“At LUTH, the doctors told us it was a ruptured appendix. They prepared us for emergency surgery, and we signed the consent form. But after the operation, they returned and said it was not the appendix. They said typhoid had eaten into his intestines,” he recalled.
The procedure resulted in further complications, leaving Enoch with a stoma, an abdominal opening through which faeces are expelled. The condition has made him dependent on costly medical supplies such as antiseptics, cotton wool, and colostomy bags to prevent infection.
Mr. Ayomide, who quit his teaching job to care for his son, said the family had already spent over N5m, largely from donations, but exhausted all resources.
“We have spent more than N5m already. Most of it came from church members, friends, and Good Samaritans. But everything is gone. Now, we need N4m for a second surgery, the reversal surgery that will put the intestine back inside his stomach and close the stomach,” he said.
He described his son’s emotional struggles, noting that Enoch misses school and feels ashamed of his condition.
“He cries when he sees his friends going to school. He misses school. He misses church. He is so ashamed of his body. We cover the opening, but sometimes the smell makes him cry. He has been emotionally broken, and we’re just trying to keep him strong,” he added.
The father appealed to the public, saying, “I am begging everyone who reads this. Please, help me save my son. Help me give him a chance to be a child again. We just want to raise N4m so that he can have this second surgery and return to school like every other boy.”
A medical report signed by Dr. Felix Alakaloko, a Consultant Paediatric Surgeon at LUTH, confirmed that Enoch underwent exploratory laparotomy and ileostomy due to typhoid perforation and severe anaemia, adding that he is currently under follow-up care after developing a controlled low-output fistula post-surgery.
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