Please help Bamidele get a kidney transplant!

You may have never met him in person, but chances are high that Bamidele has either directly or indirectly impacted someone you know. He is the most kind and generous person to everyone that crosses his path. This is even more of a reason for us to come together to help him in his time of need. My beloved nephew, a husband and a father of two daughters, forty-six year old Bamidele, is in dire need of a kidney transplant.

As he was working at a shop as a fashion designer, he noticed that the pain that he had been feeling for weeks was becoming more and more unbearable. Bamidele was always feeling weak and constantly vomiting after every meal. The pain was too much for him to work, but he was the breadwinner of the family. His wife encouraged him to go to the hospital, where he realized that his kidneys were failing. The doctor alerted Bamidele that he needed to undergo dialysis. It was a blow not only emotionally, but financially. He did not know how he was going to be able to afford the hospital fees to go through dialysis, not to mention how he would be able to sustain his family during the duration of his treatments. So he knew this would put the financial security of his wife and two daughters in jeopardy.

Though Bamidele’s wife normally sold groceries to the community, she was forced to shut down the shop whenever she needed to take care of him. Since Bamidele’s situation progressively got worse, she has not been able to work in order to take him back and forth from the hospital. Even their nine year old daughter has not been able to attend school often, since Bamidele’s wife and the people closeby usually cannot give her a ride.

During one of Bamidele’s most recent trips to the hospital, the Doctor stated that the condition of his kidney has worsened and his blood levels are still down. So he will now need a kidney transplant. Not only are the family’s funds depleted, but his wife is now sick as well. Bamidele’s thirteen year old daughter, on break from school, had to be the one to get the taxi to take him to the hospital for his most recent visit. None of our family members live near him to take him back and forth to the hospital. We also do not have much money remaining, as we have been funding his fees for each hospital visit.

We are blessed that Bamidele’s sister is a match to provide him with a kidney. However, we still need to raise 12 million naira which is $25,000 in order for the doctor to do the procedure in Nigeria. We have tried to set up a payment plan with the hospital with no success. The financial structure in most Nigerian hospitals requires the money to be paid upfront. Sometimes they allow a significant deposit of around half of the total cost before the procedure, but they never allow the patient to leave the hospital until they have received payment.

We are at our wits end, and truly need all the help that we can receive. Bamidele has been a blessing to our lives, and we cannot let him die. He has spent his entire life helping everyone around him, and we are fighting to be able to finally be the one to help him. If there is anything you can contribute, our family would be forever grateful.