Ms. Hannah Odeibea, a 14-year-old in the Akuapim South Municipality of the Eastern Region, is calling for help to identify and diagnose her present medical condition and treatment.
Ms Odeibea, who is a form three student of the Aburi Amanfo M/A Junior High School (JHS) has been referred to the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra for diagnosis and possible treatment, but lack of money for transportation and medical bills, have made it impossible for her parents to send her to the hospital.
The parents have therefore, decided to leave her to her fate for the past five years.
She suffered a sudden illness, while she was nine, and this has disabled her movement and the use of her hands.
Her fingers are bent at the middle joint toward the palm and could not straighten them.
Also, her feet cannot lay flat on the ground making it difficult to walk or even wear a pair of footwear.
She currently depends on other people to move from one place to the other.
Ms. Odeibea told the Ghana News Agency during a visit t
o her school that, she often felt sad seeing her friends playing and engaging in other sporting activities, which she could no longer participate in due to her predicament.
‘I used to be very well.
I could move around and play with my friends.
I used to take part in the netball games, but now I can no longer do so,’ she said in a tone of sadness.
Ms Odeibea said she aspired to become a medical doctor in the future, therefore she would not give up on education because of her current predicament.
The Ghana News Agency observed Ms. Odeibea was always taken to school on a motorcycle and when she was helped to get to her desk, she stayed there till school closed.
Again, rumour in the community has it that, Ms. Odeibea’s situation was associated with the gods punishing her mother for refusing to be a fetish priestess.
In school, Ms. Odeibea was known as a brilliant and quiet pupil, who usually topped the class in academic work.
Mr. Bernard Abosi Amoah, a Mathematics teacher at the Aburi Amanfo M/A JHS said
teachers made sure that Ms. Odeibea was not stigmatised or discriminated against in any way.
‘We make sure to educate the pupils on her condition so that they can help her with movement.
During sporting activities, we make her come around the field to observe,’ he mentioned.
Mr. Amoah indicated that Ms. Odeibea was a brilliant student and would go far in life if she were given the needed medical attention.
Source: Ghana News Agency