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Maina needs whopping Sh8mn to undergo liver transplant

Anthony Maina whose life has been that of constant hospital visits for the past five years and is now at a pivotal stage requiring Sh8 million for medical fees/FILE

Anthony Maina whose life has been that of constant hospital visits for the past five years and is now at a pivotal stage requiring Sh8 million for medical fees/FILE

NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 15 – Imagine developing a condition that takes years to be diagnosed, change of medication now and then, being rendered immobile due to illness and not forgetting constrained financial resources.

This is the tale of Anthony Maina whose life has been that of constant hospital visits for the past five years and is now at a pivotal stage requiring Sh8 million for medical fees.

It all started as a minor condition characterized by bouts of diarrhoea of which Maina thought could have resulted from something he has ingested.

And so he sought medical treatment and went about his day-to-day life.

As time went by, Maina realised that there was no significant change in his condition and so he sought the opinion of a different doctor since the situation was getting out of hand.

“I had to do something after six months of diarrhoea,” a browbeaten Maina recounted during an Interview with Capital FM News.

After going through a series of tests, the doctor concluded that it was a case of untreated/mutated typhoid.

“The pain was unbearable… imagine in a day I would take up to 28 tablets and then this,” Maina, now with an edgy voice he said.

It is evident he is bitter but he doesn’t know where to direct his anger.

His hope for a better future, a life free of Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis was however short lived since, “The medication made me develop abdominal pains, convulsions at night, sweating and nausea to some extent vomiting.”

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This went on for the whole of 2011 with everyday getting worse.

Maina was only to be rushed back to hospital in 2012, during his visit to a relative in Nairobi after he went into a convulsion.

It is here that a test was done and Maina’s liver was found to be malfunctioning.

The doctor recommended for a colonoscopy (an examination of the colon by means of a flexible fibre optic instrument called a colonoscope) to identify the cause of his persistent diarrhoea.

“Since colonoscopy was a new term to me, I had to research where it is done, how it is carried out and the best place around,” he said.

“One day as my dad was reading the papers, he read about a boot camp in Karen Hospital where they were carrying out colonoscopy at a reduced price…I knew that was an opportunity that I wouldn’t want to miss.”

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