Mother abandons four-year-old boy with bladder defect

The grimy story of young Tope Apanishile aptly captures the curious circumstances that caused a mother to abandon her own son.
Now, the father is left to take the arduous responsibility of taking care of his boy.

Indeed, Tope’s physical look neither shows he is challenged, nor has any health risk. He looked full of life; even, his healthy smile depicts wellness too. But, all seemed not well with this innocent four-year-old Tope Apanishile.

Young Tope was born with a dysfunctional bladder, which has denied him of freedom to freely associate with his peers; access to education and motherly love and care. This is especially so because his mother abandoned him to carry his cross. And that is what has befallen him currently.

According to a letter obtained by The Daily Times from Mr. Wale Apanishile, Tope’s father, which was signed by Dr. Alakaloko of the Paediatric Surgery Unit, Lagos University Teaching Hospital(LUTH), Temitope became a patient at LUTH on the sixth day into his life following a congenital defect of the lower anterior abdominal wall musculature and bladder wall, known as bladder exstrophy with epispadia complex-a condition, which requires a multiple-staged surgical reconstruction for which he had the first stage repair on the 11th day of life.

Narrating his efforts to get Tope to become well again, Apanishile told The Daily Times that his boy’s problem started after he was born. “The first operation has been done, but we were told that he would need to travel to India for further treatment.

I approached a newspaper that did a story on it; and based on that, N300,000.00 was realised. The actual amount we need from Nigerians is, N4.5m. So, we still need additional N4.2m.For Apanishile, worry has become his companion because, as his son (Tope), approaches five, he’s consumed by the fear

that his son stands the risk of going about in diapers, if he (Tope) does not get the financial support he earnestly needs before his fifth birthday. His words: ‘‘He is going to five years, but we’ve been advised to get the operation done before he clocks five, else, he would live with this condition for the rest of his life.’’

Apanishile lamented that his wife had left him and added that he has also lost all his belongings due to Tope’s illness.

According to him, “His mother doesn’t pick my calls anymore. She has left us. It’s that bad. As things stand now, I don’t give him much water, else, he will mess up his diaper. I’ve stopped work because of his medical condition. I’ve sold all my belongings because of this illness. I now live with my parents.

Tope, he further lamented, has stopped school since he was two. “I want him to go back to school like his peers, but I’ve not got the assistance I need; not even my church has assisted us.Meanwhile, Tope, it was gathered, would require at least two more staged reconstruction, but his parents don’t have the financial muscle to foot the bill.

For this reason, Wale Apanishile makes a passionate appeal to public-spirited Nigerians to come to their aid to ensure his child’s survival, as well as, to enable him (Tope) to live a normal life. Interested members of the public may contact the features desk of The Daily Times in Agidingbi, Ikeja, Lagos for contact and bank details.

Account number: 0237910788
Account name: Apanisile Wale
Bank: GTBank