Sylvester Ajayi needs N2m to walk again

For 32 years when he served Nigeria at the Federal Housing Authority (FHA), Mr. Sylvester Ajayi didn’t suffer a major health challenge. But when it was time to undergo tests at the Gwarimpa General Hospital in order to register for the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), the year he retired from the civil service, he was diagnosed with diabetes type 1.
Though he was surprised at the outcome of the diagnosis owing to many years of good health and a lifestyle devoid of high sugar consumption, 62-year-old Ajayi on the advice of his doctor started using drugs to manage diabetes. He also took up light exercises as further advised by his doctor.
However, sometime in January, the man who worked for over three decades as woodsman started feeling week each time he returned from walking or his light exercise. Things came to head, when in February, Ajayi felt so weak that he asked his wife Roseline to help him whenever he needed to turn over in bed.
“I knew that something was wrong when sometime in February, he asked me to help him turn over while we were in bed,” Roseline told Abuja Metro  at her Gwarimpa home.
Closely following the difficulty in moving his body in bed was the swelling of his hands and legs. And soon, the Ajayis sought the help of a physiotherapist. After weeks of treatment with no improvement even after the couple had spent almost all other savings, the physiotherapist advised that Ajayi undergoes an MRI scan.
But the couple couldn’t only raise N60,000 after months of saving and this was a far cry from the huge sum needed for the test at the State House Clinic. “We had to beg them that we will run around and make it up to N70,000. We told the doctor at the clinic to look at the date my husband was asked to undergo the test and when we finally came. They took mercy on us and conducted the test,” Roseline narrated with much sadness.




Check the The Sun newspaper for the full story.