By Femi Gabriel
I knew a long time ago that being hypertensive isn’t a good state to be, recently I met someone who isn’t just hypertensive, but has heart failure as well. Did I hear you say “that person needs medical treatment urgently?” Well, she’s doesn’t have the means to seek medical treatment as she’s presently broke, unemployed, and wait for it… Homeless. Yes you heard me right, she’s HOMELESS. She sleeps wherever the sunset meets her, or wherever her wearily feet fails her. This isn’t another short story or script I’m writing, I’ve just explained the situation of Bisi Balogun, a 40-year old lady I met recently at Alausa – Ikeja, Lagos State.
While ‘playing’ with my camera, I observed a frail looking woman lying on the lawn beside Ikeja City Mall beckoning to me. Normally she should have struck me as someone that requires financial assistance, but she didn’t, she looked like someone in DESPERATE need of help. I went to her and was surprised when she didn’t beg for alms, but decided to tell me her story to share with the public just in case there’s someone out there that God will touch his/her to save her life.
ACCORDING TO HER, she has been managing her hypertensive state for 8 years, until her health worsen last year when she was diagnosed of heart failure. She was admitted at LASUTH for over 3 months, and when she couldn’t afford to pay the over One hundred thousand naira hospital bill, she wasn’t allowed to leave until the bill was cleared by a missionary group. Not quite long after she was eventually discharged that she realized her legs were getting abnormally swollen, but wasn’t given medical attention when she returned to the hospital because of her history of being incapable of paying medical bills, and was even flogged out of the building when she decided not to leave. The friend she was squatting with also chased her away from fear of her medical state, and with nowhere to go she sleeps wherever available. She claims to have been molested several times and stolen from… She said a lot, but the summary of it all is that she NEEDS URGENT ASSISTANCE.
I understand heart failure as a condition in which the heart can’t pump enough blood to meet the body’s needs, and has grave consequences if not properly managed. Bisi Balogun has nothing to manage the condition, weak, hungry, homeless and sadly tickling away. She’s presently sleeping vulnerably in the open on the lawn beside Ikeja City Mall Alausa, and unsure of where to go if chased away from there. Her phone has been stolen by street urchins, but recently called me with this number (08128990310) as how to reach her for the time being. I’m not a medical personnel, but I have the feeling that she’s in grave danger if not assisted urgently. SHE REQUIRES URGENT MEDICAL ATTENTION, AND A MEANS OF LIVELIHOOD AFTER THAT TO PUT A ROOF OVER HER HEAD, AND MEAL ON HER PLATE. Please be your sister’s keeper and do whatever you can to save her life.
Kindly share as well. Thank you.