The Akin-Bright family has declared missing the small intestine of their 13-year-old son.
Their nightmare started when their son, Adebola, complained of pain in a part of his stomach in March this year, a situation that took them to a private hospital at Ile-Epo, a Lagos surburb, where their son’s condition was diagnosed as typhoid fever.
After about five days of treatment and when his condition didn’t improve, his parents moved him to another private hospital where he was diagnosed with ruptured appendix and he underwent surgical interventions. He resumed school afterwards.
In June, months after the second surgery, however, the young child’s condition became complicated as he continued to complain of pain in the stomach. His parents returned him to the private hospital where he had had the first surgery.
There, he was discovered to have intestinal obstruction, which the doctors say would require a fresh surgery. Another surgery was done on him — the second in about five months.
Following the second surgery, the boy developed complications, as he continued to leak bile-less fluid more than seven days after the surgery
Following the second surgery, the boy developed complications, as he continued to leak bile-less fluid more than seven days after the surgery. The hospital’s Chief Medical Director recommended another surgery, which the parents refused to have. They instead took their son to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, LASUTH, on June 14. However, their troubles were just starting!
At LASUTH, doctors advised the Akin-Bright family to wait for the open wound to heal by itself, adding that if this did not happen, the boy would undergo another surgical intervention. About 25 days after the child had been in the care of LASUTH physicians, something like a burst skin was noticed on the side of Adebola’s stomach, resulting in emergency.
The doctors decided that the patient might need surgery after all, and, surgery — the third in about six months — he did have. The surgery was performed on Adebola on July 17, his mother, Mrs. Deborah Abiodun, said.
The story became a lot more bizarre as LASUTH physicians later informed the parents that when they opened up their son for the third surgery (the first at LASUTH), they discovered that his small intestine was missing.
Underscoring the importance of the “missing” organ, doctors at the Ohio, USA-based Cleveland Clinics said the small intestine is actually the longest segment of the gastrointestinal tract, being the long, continuous pathway that food travels through the digestive system.
In the small intestine, food is broken down into liquid and most of its nutrients are absorbed. The waste is passed on to the large intestine. That is how important the missing organ is to human survival.
Online health platform owned by the American Government, MedlinePlus, states that “The small intestine absorbs much of the nutrients found in foods we eat; and that when two-thirds of the small intestine is missing, the body may not absorb enough food to stay healthy and maintain weight.”
when two-thirds of the small intestine is missing, the body may not absorb enough food to stay healthy and maintain weight
The issue has resulted in buck-passing between the LASUTH physicians and the hospital where Adebola had undergone two surgical interventions.
This is even as the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has taken over the medical care of Adebola Akin-Bright. Sanwo-Olu’s attention was probably arrested by Adebola’s mother, Deborah, who had, in a viral video, cried out over the critical situation of her son.
A surgical procedure meant to improve Adebola’s life had taken an unimaginable turn, leaving him without a small but critical part of his digestive system. It was a nightmare that has shattered the family’s hope.
She called on Nigerians to help her beg Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to look into her case and help save her son’s life.
“Adebola cannot absorb any nutrient because of the absence of the small intestine. He cannot eat and even if he does, he passes it out the way he eats it. He has been living on Total Parenteral Nutrition (TPN), which cost N69,000 for one and he takes two every two days.
“According to research, the solution to his problem is intestinal transplant, though, we do not have much information about it but we learnt that it cannot be done in Nigeria but abroad. Please, have mercy on me, help me save Adebola’s life, don’t let him die. You are our father, please help me,” she wept as she begs the governor and Nigerians.
Rising to the call, Governor Sanwo-Olu on Sunday paid an unscheduled visit to Adebola and his mother at the Paediatric Ward of LASUTH.
The Governor has taken Adebola under his wing, pledging to take over his medical care by pulling all medical expertise from LASUTH and other resources to save his life.
It would be recalled that the boy’s mother, Mrs. Abiodun, had earlier done a Safe Our Soul (SOS) message via social media in which she appealed to Governor Sanwo-Olu to, as a matter of urgency, probe the mysterious disappearance of her 13-year-old son’s small intestine.
While she claimed that the incident occurred while her son was receiving treatment at LASUTH, the management of LASUTH said they did not “willfully remove any organ or structure” while performing a corrective surgery on Adebola.
LASUTH management said, “Adebola required extensive optimization in our facility before a corrective surgery could be carried out. At the surgery, which was carried out by an experienced paediatric surgeon and her team revealed certain strange findings. There is a video clip of these findings. The mother was informed about these findings but she appeared to be in denial.”
Responding to the need to save the life of the boy, who has been undergoing treatment at LASUTH for over a month, Governor Sanwo-Olu during his visit promised to do everything humanly possible to save Adebola life.
After listening to both the mother of the child and the doctor who was in charge of Adebola’s case, the governor noted that what is paramount is the life of the 13-year-old boy and therefore he will take up the case.
Adebola’s mother thanked the governor for the visit and for taking up the medical care of her promising young boy.
