Dear MIMsters: Please Take Your Health Seriously, Learn From My Dear Brother’s Story

Please learn from my brother’s story and take your health seriously.

I lost my sweet mum in 2009. My dad followed in 2012 and since then, God has been great to us.

God crowned my efforts with success and I became a University lecturer somewhere in the East. My siblings too became fairly OK. But the sad news is that my oldest brother has partial stroke, kidney disease, HIV and ulcer which makes him bleed internally.

All these diseases are too much for me to even process in my head. He needs a transplant and is currently on dialysis. No financial aid is coming from anywhere as we have spent everything, sold his car, yet he needs to be stabilised on the issue of HIV before a transplant can even occur.

I am shattered is an understatement, I am torn to pieces. I have never heard of such complications. Although he played his part in bringing all these upon himself: he drank alcohol a lot and was a hardened womaniser, where he likely contracted HIV.

No day passes by without blaming himself for bringing these upon him, but blood ties make it difficult for me to imagine him dead. Besides, he contributed financially to my wedding and also sponsored my Masters.

This is damn too much to process for a brother who is only 39 years old. What can I do? It is extremely painful to watch him die gradually. It has turned me to become psychologically unstable and I’m losing myself and senses.

Please note: I will appreciate it if you don’t tell me to take him to TB Joshua, because our parents died after been prayed for by the same TB Joshua. They fell ill after I dedicated my teen and early adult years to service in that church. (We spent over 15 years in Synagogue, so I know what I’m saying). I’m not saying he is evil, who am I to even say that, but our miracle is not there.

My advice to everyone is please always go for routine test to check your kidneys at least once in 6 months, because kidney cells do not regenerate. Once it is damaged, it cannot be repaired, it can only be managed by retarding the damage from progressing. The physiological presentation does not manifest usually until the two kidneys are damaged. This is why people are left with only the transplant option. With N4,000, you can have both the EU and Creatinine tests in government hospitals.

Even if you cannot afford the N4k, do the kidney’s which costs on N1k. Doctors say that early detection helps and may require a few routine drugs and a change in diet. I feel so cold and troubled.

All I am requesting for is words of encouragement and to be linked with any NGO that helps people with kidney or HIV problems. Other ideas are also welcomed.