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By Vivian Onyebukwa
When Oluwatosin Taibat Oguntayo starting excreting blood, she thought it was a mere haemorrhage. She never knew that what was lurking in the corner was cancer.
Right now, Oluwatosin Taibat Oguntayo, a 36-year-old businesswoman who deals in clothes and fabrics, is battling with stage four renal cancer. At this stage, where she is to start undergoing chemotherapy, she needs about N1.5 million per session. As it is, she can no longer operate her business on the grounds of ill health, which has drained all her resources and that of the family. When Saturday Sun visited her at her home at Ibeshe, Ikorodu, Lagos State where she is being taken care of by her mother, Tawakalitu Oguntayo and other family members, she cut a pitiable sight. She was in pain and could barely stand or walk. Even to eat has become a problem for her.
Recalling how it started, she said: “When it started, and I was excreting blood, we thought it was haemorrhage. I started using a particular drug which did not work, so I began using different herbs. At some point, the pile came out. I had to push it in.”
But the problem continued. She recalled a day in 2022: “I went to my shop. At a point I was so dizzy that I didn’t see anything again. The next thing was that I fainted. Thank God my younger brother’s wife was around and she helped me, alongside some other people. I wondered what would have happened to me that day.”
She stated that before then, she had been having serious fatigue. He sight became blurred. Then late last year, she started having serious constipation and passing faeces became impossible. According to her, there would be times she would not excrete for between three weeks and one month.
The problem continued, and she was spending so much, trying drugs that never worked. She eventually became tired of everything.
It was at this point that she decided to consult her family doctor who recommended a test. “When I got there, they checked. They said they did not really understand what they were seeing, but that it looked like a tumour that had blocked my anus, which was why I was unable to excrete. That was why I also kept having constipation. So I asked the doctor to be sincere to me and tell me whether it’s cancer. The doctor told me that I needed to do a biopsy which result would be out on September 9. When the result came out, from what they sent to me, I had to Google some things and discovered that it was erectile cancer. I did not want to spoil my mum’s day on the 26th which was her birthday. Then on the 27th, I told her that the result looked like recital cancer. I asked her to show the result to her friend, who is a surgeon. The surgeon called back that in sincerity, the thing has blocked my anus. The only solution, he said, would be to get me a colostomy bag if I still want to live. The only way they can do it is by cutting the tumour, close my anus completely, put the bag which I would have to use for the rest of my life because the thing is very close to my anus completely.”
She recalled that she thereafter went to the family doctor who referred her to the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH). “The doctor had to confide in my brother that I have cancer,” she stated.
She further explained that at this point, she did not know that her blood had dried completely and was just 11 per cent. She had the feelings that something was wrong with her. “I knew I wasn’t breathing well. My hands were white. My legs were shaking. I didn’t understand myself anymore”.
At LUTH, she eventually had the surgery. But after she became conscious, she was expecting to see a colostomy bag, but there was none. “Another doctor came to explain to me why they did not put a colostomy bag. He said that by the time they opened my stomach, the cancer had spread to where they could put a colostomy bag, which can cause an untimely death for me. So they said the only solution was to place me on a chemo,” she said.
Right now, she has been told she has an erectile cancer stage four, which is the final stage. “They said the only thing they can do is to transfer me to the cancer centre which would decide what they would do to me. I have gone to register at the cancer centre. The doctor told me that what they were going to place me on is very expensive. Each session might cause more than N1.5 million. I wondered where I was going to such money from. He noted that, that is why people end up dying when it comes to cancer because they cannot afford those medications and sessions. They gave me a list of four different tests which I should do. I could not afford the tests. So I had to come back home that day. Since then till now, I can barely breathe, or do anything. I am drying up every day.
“I feel like I am dying, but I am just trying to hang on for the sake of my mum, my daughter, and my brother, because I believe that they have spent so much. They have begged from even people they are not supposed to beg from. As it is, I have lost my left eye. I can no longer see with it,” she lamented.
Taibat’s mother, Tawakalitu Oguntayo retired last year as a result of ill health after working for 27 years with the local government. She said she has put her illness aside for her daughter who she said is dying. Amidst sobs, she cried out to Nigerians: “She has stage four cancer. I need help! Nigerians, please stand up and help me. My husband died nine years ago. I am the only one taking care of my children. I don’t mind if the government can pay me my money so that I can take my gratuity and take care of my girl, who is dying. Her daughter doesn’t have a father; he died 14 years ago. She is the only one taking care of her daughter, and things are very difficult for me. She is supposed to start her chemotherapy. We have about four tests to do and drugs to buy before she starts the chemotherapy. We couldn’t afford any. The last time we went there they told us that we should have nothing less than N1.5 million per therapy session. My family and friends have tried and I can no longer go to them because of the situation in the country. We need serious help. Please don’t let me lose my daughter!”
Those wishing to help can reach out to the distraught mother, Tawakalitu Oguntayo, on 08033160187, or 09014917141. Her account number at Polaris Bank is 2020052165.
