By Mark Menginfia, mmengenfia@gmail.com
The parents of an eight-year-old old child, who has a strange illness, are calling on First Lady Clar Weah’s foundation and people of goodwill to help their child seek medical attention outside Liberia.
The hands, feet, back and other parts of his body has warts that look like the bark of a tree.
A spokeswoman for the parents, Old-lady Korpo, grandmother of little Steven Mulbah said “I want so people can help me save the life of my grandchild.”
With tears in her eyes, the elderly woman indicated that she has suffered with the child from the day of birth up to now.
Ma Korpo said little Steven has sleepless nights due to the pain and irritation he experiences.
The mother of the ill child, Evelyn Gbelee said her son’s illness started at birth years ago, when rashes began to cover his body.
“Itches were like ‘thatch,” Gbelee added.
‘Thatch’ refers to inflammation or redness that gets on young babies when their mothers eat much sweets or when the food given them (babies) contain too much sweets.
She said that as a baby, whenever the rashes appeared on him, she would take Steven to a clinic or hospital for treatment, but the only medication she used to receive was ointment.
According to the mother of the ill child, the health condition of her son has caused her to visit lots of hospitals and clinics in Liberia without any solution to this problem.
“I took him to JFK Hospital, Catholic Hospital, Florida Clinic, Benson Hospital and many other health facilities, but the results have been the same,” Gblee said.
One of the hospitals she recently visited was Firestone, where they were informed that the sickness can be treated outside of Africa.
Looking visibly sad, little Steven’s mother said “My son cannot go to school, play with his friends or eat with other people because of his health condition.”
“I am calling on the first Lady, our ma and other people who will help me save the life of my eight year old boy,” the mother of the child said.
The family of little Steven can be reached @ +231-77581134.
Meanwhile, a resident of the Cow-field junction community, whose wife is a health worker said, “the family used to come to my wife for treatment, but when we noticed that the sickness was strange, I told my wife that we take the photo and post it on the social media for people to help.”
Mr. Anthony Tamba indicated that people started providing donation of cash to the family.
“We wholeheartedly appreciate those who provided cash or other materials for the family, but want this family needs the most is for their child to be treated; so, we are calling President George M. Weah, V.P Taylor, philanthropic and all well-meaning Liberians to come to the aid of this family and help save the life of this child,” Mr. Tamba added.
He said he has done research on the illness and found out that it is call ‘Tree Man’.
According to him, it was discovered that a Bangladesh man, Abul Bajandar’s rare condition caused him to become an internet sensation, known as the tree man.
His diagnosis of epidermodysplasia verruciformis caused his skin to form ginormous warts that looked like tree bark.