Siaya teacher seeks support to undergo lung transplant

SIAYA, Kenya, Jan 18 – A Siaya teacher who has been diagnosed with a rare lung condition is calling on well-wishers to help her raise funds for Lung transplant in India.

29-year-old Mary Cynthia Akoth Ochieng, a teacher at Ambrose Adeya Adongo secondary school in Alego – Usonga is seeking to raise more than Sh8 million to cater for both medical and travelling expenses.

Speaking to journalists at her house in Kalulu estate in Siaya town, Cynthia who suffers from Interstitial lung disease and pulmonary hypertension says that medical experts have advised her to seek lung transplant as the only solution to her condition.

She says that her condition began as a small cough in 2017 while on teaching practice but defied medication, leading to the current condition that has seen her placed under oxygen for 24 hours.

“I have been on medication from 2017 but on the night of 15/3/2024, I had an attack that saw me rushed to Bama hospital where I was put on oxygen” she says.

She says that further diagnosis found that oxygen saturation in her lungs was at 30%, against the requirement of 90 to 100% for a normal person.

Cynthia says that she has sought medical attention from pulmonologists in Eldoret and Nairobi who reached the conclusion that the only remedy was for her to undergo lung transplant.

“The problem is that this cannot be done locally, and I have to travel to India” she says adding that her medical journey has so far exhausted all her savings and that of the family.

The teacher of mathematics and Chemistry says that she is currently using expensive drugs and is on oxygen 24 hours, something that has affected her work as a teacher.

“I spend more than sh. 1,200/= on drugs daily to remain alive” she says.

Cynthia says that one of her medical insurance covers, AON help her cover some expenses but cannot do much as the medicines and other expenses are beyond the cover.

“I am also a contributor to the social health insurance fund (SHIF) which, like its predecessor, NHIF, only takes care of the hospital bed” she says.

She calls on the government to consider expanding the SHIF to cover serious ailments like the one she is suffering from.

Her mother, Claris Atieno Oriedi says the family has been left destitute because of her first born’s condition and appealed to well-wishers to come to their aid.

Well-wishers support through 0710104416 (Mary Cynthia Akoth Ochieng) or 0727455063 (Claris Atieno Oriedi)