Roselyn Etsemobor: Right eye damaged sees clearly, left eye normal but dead

Life is no longer the same for Roselyn Etsemobor, a 35-year-old Agenebode, Edo State native. Unfortunately for her, life has taken a downturn, not a turn for the better. Just one look at her and you will know why. Even that look is not for the fainthearted. Saying that she is a gory sight is not being wicked or inconsiderate. It is just the truth.

“It all began seven years ago,” says Roselyn. “I was in Jos then and my right eye began itching. I went to the University of Jos Teaching Hospital and the X-ray they did didn’t reveal anything out of place. Also, I didn’t feel the pain again so I felt truly that there was nothing wrong. I relocated to Lagos afterwards and the problem escalated.”

Don’t get her wrong, though. She doesn’t mean that living in Lagos exacerbated her problem. Just that she was in Lagos when the problem intensified and is still threatening to take her out.

Etsemobor’s problem is a tumour in, of all places, her face. It is fast growing over all over the right side of her face and has now made her face grotesque.  Medically, it is known as an orbital mass. Though her right eye seems to be the more affected, the irony is that “my left eye which is normal is no longer seeing anything while the right which is damaged is seeing very well,” she disclosed.

Speaking further, she said, “I was making my living as a fashion designer when I began to feel the pains again. I called at the General Hospital, Ikorodu and I was referred to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) which also referred me to the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) before I eventually returned to LASUTH.”

She speaks easily about her condition, making it obvious that she has taken heart about it, maybe because she believes that there is light at the end of the tunnel. “I believe that God will bring me out of this problem so that His name will be glorified,” she says. “I believe that everything happens for a reason and this problem must be for a reason.”

Her hope and courage might also not be unconnected to the fact that doctors have said there is a way out for her medically. “When my medical reports were sent to America, the doctors were amazed that I’ve have had this tumour for several years and it’s not yet cancerous. They then concluded that they can correct it successfully through surgery.”

Another source of hope and courage for Etsemobor is Ekklesia International Centre, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) which has taken it upon itself to help her find a way out of her predicament. For two years now, Ekklesia has been helping sick Nigerians, and Roselyn came to its notice when it conducted a general screening for sick people in 2009.

“When she came for the screening, we just knew we had to try our best for her,” says Pastor Paul Achem, Ekklesia’s CEO. “We’ve aided a lot of Nigerians like her who have tumours. We took them to the Mercy Ship and they were treated free. We just made the arrangements and paid for their transport and sundry expenses. We have also aided many hospitals with equipments and supplies.”

Ekklesia it was that presented Etsemobor’s case to the Methodist University Hospital (MUH), Memphis, Tennessee, whose doctors said they can correct her anomaly.

“Roselyn’s case is very complex. Even the Mercy Ship admitted that it is beyond them because they do not have the right equipments,” Achem revealed.

A LASUTH Medical Board set up to look into Roselyn’s present condition on behalf of the Lagos State Ministry of Health concurs that her case is delicate. In the report dated October 27^th, Doctors V A  Adekoya and A P Adeyinka concluded that:

Her (Roselyn’s) present complaint and clinical examination and CT scan reports show a probable malignant mass involving the right nasal cavity, the right ethmoid and the right eye. She would require a right external fronto ethmoidectomy. This may involve loss of the right eye which is her only seeing eye now. She will also need radiotherapy plus chemotherapy. It requires a multidisciplinary approach.

Matt Wilson of MUH however says Roselyn’s tumour is “unlikely to be a cancer.” He listed the procedures to be carried out on her as: pre-operative lab studies and clearance, pre-operative CT and MRI, orbitotomy with frozen section, pathology.

Additional procedures that he said might be needed are: sinus surgery, craniotomy, orbital exenteration, systemic chemotherapy, systemic anti-fungal; and they would require partnering with other medical and surgical specialties.

The good news for Etsemobor is that her situation can still be salvaged. The bad news is that it would require a lot of funds she doesn’t have and Ekklesia doesn’t as well.

“All the sick people we’ve helped so far were assisted with funds from our friends, family members, church members and so on. Roselyn’s case however requires a $100,000, roughly N15m for the surgery. We don’t have this money so we are appealing to good Nigerians to come to her rescue. The surgery itself is a one-day procedure that will cost $8,142 but she will have to be there for sixty days so all the total expenses add up to a $100,000.”

One of the people who has benefitted from Ekklesia’s support in the past is Mrs Abisoye Ekuku. “I had amelioblastomia tumour on my left cheek. I presented myself to Ekklesia and they took me to the Mercy Ship in Cotonou. The doctors operated on me to remove the tumour. They removed all the bones in the left side of my face and used the muscle in my left forehead to patch up my cheek.

 “I’m only 44 years but people call me mama because I look more like 60. But it’s better because I sell edible goods and nobody would have patronised me the way I looked before.”

Donald, Mrs Ekuku’s last child, also benefitted from the Ekklesia-Mercy Ship partnership. “Donald too had a growth on his head. We thought it was a boil but it kept growing bigger and bigger. He was in Nursery 2 then and that was just three months after my husband died. Naturally, I was confused, what with my own condition too, financial problems but Ekklesia and Mercy Ship came to our rescue.”

Elaborating on Mercy Ship, Achem said, “Mercy Ships is a global charity that operates hospital ships in developing nations. The ship that comes to Africa is known as Africa Mercy. We’ve taken Nigerians to it at Cotonou and Sierra Leone. We’ve been trying to bring it to Nigeria but security issues have prevented that reality.”