By Edoamaowo Udeme
While gathering at the NYSC Camp in Benue State, a youth corps member ran out of the crowd shouting “Convulsion, please help me! I am about to have an attack! Please don’t let my teeth clinch! Put me in a position where I will not bite my tongue or the inside of my mouth! please get me a spoon or something else!” all these were pouring out of his mouth as he ran towards the State Coordinator’s office.
Luckily for him, the NYSC Benue State Coordinator Mrs Eno Awakessien and her guests were just seated outside the office when he got there. Corps medical personnel were on hand to render immediate help. Another good thing to note was that the Camp Clinic was well equipped with drugs to cater for his first aid. He was immediately placed on a mattress in front of them and was spoken to till he recovered, the convulsion never came but he was very weak for a long while even thought that never stopped his chatting with people. What would have happened if he didn’t get help on time?
That was Ogbuka Ogechukwu a brilliant lawyer from Ogwu local Government of Enugu state, the eastern part of Nigeria, who also graduated from the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN) and recently called to bar having completed his law school in Kano the northern part of Nigeria. He speaks impeccable English and that explains why he was nicknamed “Patrick Obhiagbon” while stressing a point to his fellow Corpers in a group discussion.
Born 22 years ago at a popular private hospital (Name withheld) in Lagos with a medical laboratory scientist father and a school proprietor mother. Oge, the first of four children said his illness is not a birth defect but a medical carelessness as according to his parents, he was born very normal until two days after his birth it was realized that there were leftover of some mucous that was supposed to be sucked out of his nostrils during birth, this resulted to his difficulty in breathing as the mucous eventually found itself in some parts of his brain and caused the damage. The seizure occurs approximately four times a year
Describing the prelude to the seizure Oge likened it to looking at a very bright source of light like lightening of a sharp flash of a camera ‘That after effect of the flash gives everybody a moment of blurred vision, if you can multiply the effect to three times, that is the first sign that something is about to happen, I immediately move to a location where I would not injure myself the more and far from where people are who may not understand the scenario and overtime, everything begins to spin, I will feel feverish at that moment and then the shockwaves comes and I blank out, I learnt the black-out usually takes fifteen to twenty minutes and I will wake up with a splitting headache”
On why he pleaded that he should be put in a certain position during the attack, Oge says he usually bites his tongue and his inner mouth during the process he is thankful that the State Coordinator managed him well so much so that the attack was averted that day. On how he coped in school and the Law School he said he had to braze the odds as he had seen people who have worst cases and are still standing.
Asked if any Doctor has talked about the possibility of his recovery, Oge said that a certain on in Law School Kano discussed it when he was there but warned him against operation as the brain is extremely delicate. “Just like it happened here and was cared for immediately, I had the attack in Kano and the doctor there knew well about the Issue and was on hand to render help and warned me that there is no known cure that I have to manage it that way”
Oge concluded that what triggers the attack in his own observation is quite likely “Traces of malaria and some malaria drugs that I must avoid completely, the weather and stress also causes my attacks” thankful to be kept under surveillance at the NYSC Camp clinic bed for three days, it has aided my recovery as I have completely relaxed even though I have missed participating in camp activities, I have the State Coordinator, Camp Officials and Corps doctors who cared for me” were his last line before being driven in the State Coordinators official car and taken to Makurdi the State capital for onward return to the waiting arms of his parents in Enugu.
Ogechi’s case is different; he can scream for help and leave instructions before convulsion happens. It gives him ample time to move away from danger but same cannot be said of Ndipmonguwem, an Akwa Ibom born lady in her late 30s who has epilepsy. From Ikot Ekpeyak Ikono in Uyo Local Government area of the eastern part of Nigeria. She is not only educationally deprived because of her illness but has multiple wounds in her body because of the belief that epilepsy is contagious, with a badly burnt body she said she cannot account for the times she has had the attack but the scars and fresh wounds are enough to support her claims. Nobody goes near her whenever the attack occurs for fear of contacting it.
Beautiful, loving and intelligent despite being educationally challenged and needless to say, marriage is a million miles from her as no man is willing to have an epileptic woman as a wife for fear of being laughed at and majorly thinking the children will contact it as well. She has been so stigmatized that she said some of her very close family members don’t share food with her, “We can’t eat from the same plate as the believe that they will contact it. I feel so ashamed that I have become a recluse, I have been warned not to go near fire of stream but I do this myself as nobody is willing to help me since I lost my parents, that explains all the fire burns I have all over my body
The question is, when on earth did the rumor of epilepsy being a contagious disease start? Sometime ago in Iyana Ipaja of Lagos State, this reporter rescued a boy of about 15 years who had the attack and was almost drowned in a water reservoir. Those who sent him to fetch the water all ran away and even warned the reporter not to go near the boy. The sight was horrifying; his head was already inside the tank while his body that was writhing and shaking was on top of the tank. What if help didn’t come in time for that young man? How many people have we really lost this way because of ignorance?
Oge openly accuses doctors for their carelessness and despite being a lawyer now, is not interested in suing the hospital that nearly killed him; he said his parents have gone through a lot financially in taking care of him. He hopes to practice law for about 5 years and then settle down for private business and family.
The questions are; what can the Ministry of health do to create awareness that epilepsy and convulsion are not contagious? How much awareness can be created to save Nigerians who are sufferers from imminent danger or deaths? And what penalties are given to doctors who make major errors like Ogechi’s case? A food for thought.
