Six-year-old brain tumour victim gets sponsor for N10m surgery
A group, Great Ifedinma Friends Club of Nigeria, has pledged to undertake a surgery worth N10 million for a six-year-old girl, Chimuanya Emegwaribe, diagnosed with severe brain tumour that paralysed
A group, Great Ifedinma Friends Club of Nigeria, has pledged to undertake a surgery worth N10 million for a six-year-old girl, Chimuanya Emegwaribe, diagnosed with severe brain tumour that paralysed her while she was four.
Chimuanya, born a normal child, had developed partial visual challenges, which later degenerated into severe problems when she fell and hit her head on the floor.
The mother, Mrs Jennifer Emegwaribe, said the victim was diagnosed with brain tumour in 2024, adding that the surgery was then valued at N7 million, but she had neither money to undertake the procedure, nor relatives to support her.
Narrating her ordeal, Emegwaribe said she finally brought her daughter home after several years of moving her from one hospital and local medicine practitioner to another, and exhausting her fortune without any improvement.
“My daughter developed severe sight problems, which made her to partially lose her vision. She suffers repeated seizures.
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“The more I spend money carrying her to various places, the more her condition deteriorates. To worsen the matter, her father has since abandoned us,” she said.
Describing the benefactor’s intervention as divine, Emegwaribe said the support would enable her child start medical process to reclaim her life, hoping she would once again bounce back to life.
She appreciated the club for their dedication to the plight of the poor and the distressed, praying God to bless them beyond their imagination.
Commissioner for Women and Social Welfare, Mrs Ify Obinabo, recalled the distressing situation she met the child and her mother, which necessitated her sourcing for support for her.
She said the club, through the gesture, had not only saved a life, but had also given hope to the downtrodden that God still answered prayers.
She said: “When the mother of the child met me and said she believed I could help her, I was at a loss as to how. But when I reached out to Great Ifedinma Friends Club and they obliged, I know what God cannot do does not exist.
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“For the club to commit to undertake the N10 million surgery is indeed a major breakthrough in the process of getting the young child’s life back, and I want to sincerely appreciate them for this.
“I also want to commend Gender Based Violence and Peace Organisation (GBV&P) for the work they did in sourcing help for the victim.”
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Announcing the donation, President of Great Ifedinma Friends Club, Prince Uche Oduche, said they would be making initial payment of the first tranche of N5 million to enable the victim proceed to hospital and begin treatment, while the balance would follow later.
Oduche said the gesture was in keeping with the message of love as exemplified by St Valentine, adding that the donation was one of the numerous ways the club had been giving back to the society.
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“This is what Great Ifedinma Friends Club of Nigeria is known for. We believe in love and charity. When we heard about the plight of this child through the commissioner, we were moved to pity and immediately decided to step in.’’
Chairman of charity committee of the club, Chief IKC Chukwuma, said the donation was expression of gratitude to God for his mercies to members, noting that they would continue to follow through the entire procedure, to ensure its success.
The Programme Manager of Gender Based Violence and Peace Organisation, Ubaka Onwuanibe, described the support as timely and urged more support for the suffering child and her family from other public-spirited individuals.
