Soft-spoken and amiable, there are perhaps only few persons in the world today that can boast of having witnessed the type of trauma and pain that she has experienced over the last 22 years.
At 52, and showing no sign of slowing down, Irene Olumese has indeed walked through the valley of the shadow of death, coming out unscathed at the end. Born to parents from Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital, but raised in Ibadan, Oyo State, the nutrition expert has in fact seen life from terrifying angles.
“I coughed repeatedly every day for 20 years. At the end of that period, my doctors told me that they had exhausted all options for me to continue to live except they changed my lungs. It was a terrible news for me and my family,” she added. While the transplant marked a major victory in her quest to stay alive, it also signalled the beginning of fresh problems for the mother of two, sadly. From fluctuating between life and death for weeks, to having her physiognomy changed significantly, the problems were endless. Having another person’s lungs tucked inside her body indeed brought all kinds of trouble for the Lagos-born woman.
Despite losing her lower limbs following the fitting of new lungs in her body, Olumese remained in a critical condition. For the next 119 days that followed that surgery, she remained confined to the hospital bed, not knowing if she would survive or eventually be consumed by the health crisis. Her husband and two sons had to carry on with life without her wifely and motherly care. Emotionally and psychologically – they were broken. It was the worst experience they ever could have wished for.
“But after we did that for a couple of years and saw that it was going to affect their education because they couldn’t concentrate, we had to allow other friends to help us with some house work. That was how we managed during that period. “Mine cost almost $30,000; not everybody in this situation can afford it. So, I felt we could do something to support people. We have been able to provide prosthesis for 34 amputees in Nigeria in the five years that we have run the foundation. But we still need money to be able to provide for others waiting in line.
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