This young Nigerian, David Ogedengbe, has eye cancer which has been with him since he was a little over two years old. Last week, his father took him to the Lagos State Secretariat, Ikeja, purposely to see the state governor, seeking an assistance to offset the N350,000 bill requested at the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan. His father narrated the ordeals since the eye problem was first noticed to Oodua Trust

The young David Ogedengbe is a little over four years old. He was born without any blemish to Mr. Oladimeji Ogedengbe, a cobbler and his wife, a petty trader. They lived at No. 34, Owodunni Street, Palmgrove near Onipanu in the Shomolu local government area of the state. Since last year when David was diagnosed and it was discovered that he had eye cancer, the boy's problem had been compounded. They could not raise money, neither could they get any philanthropist to take care of the boy.

At present, help appears to have come his way at UCH Ibadan, where a doctor had given him the assurance that the eye would be operated upon and his eye returned to normal. However, the cost demanded from the cobbler-father, N350,000 has become an uphill task before the man, who now roams the streets of Lagos, searching for the money.

Oladimeji informed this writer that he did not want to go into begging as he claimed that begging could not help the boy whom he said eat less these days and often have pains which disallowed him to sleep when it was time to sleep.

Young David also said he would like to go to school like his age mates but regretted that the eye cancer had done much damage to his life. He said he had not experienced school life since he was born, neither had he the opportunity of mixing with his age mates in the neighbourhood since the eye problem became severe a year ago. Amidst sobs, his father who said he had become jobless because the eye problem had taken much of his time and daily thoughts, pleaded for financial assistance from kind-hearted Nigerians to assist his boy saying, "This problem is beyond me." Narrating how the problem started, Oladimeji explained that his son was not born with the eye problem.

He explained that this type of ailment was not heard of in his family history nor that of his wife's. "It's not hereditary. I was shocked when the doctor confirmed that the boy had eye cancer. It was devastating," he said.

He narrated, "Initially, we thought it was just a common boil but after a week when it was growing big, I took him to a nearby private hospital. Drugs were prescribed for him and I bought them. However, for close to two weeks, the boil had grown bigger and I took him to the Lagos State University of Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja."

At LASUTH, David was also placed on drugs for quite some time and the protruding eye got better only for a while before it started growing bigger. "It was after this that the eye was diagnosed at the hospital. The doctor he refused to give the name] prescribed another set of drugs but I left him realise that it was better to operate on the eye. We're on this for a long time and when I observed that the doctor was not going to operate on the eye, I took the boy to the General Hospital in Abeokuta, Ogun State. The doctor's there were not cooperating as expected.

"Then, I took him to the UCH, Ibadan where I was given assurance that with N350,000, the operation would be done and the boy would be alright," he said.

On why he took the boy to the seat of the state government, Oladimeji explained that he had run from pillar to post but nothing concrete came out. "I believe the state government will assist him to overcome the problem. We believe if the governor, our governor sees David, as a father, he would assist but the security men did not allow us to move near the entrance of the governor's office," he said sobbing.

From close observation, the affected eye was mind-boggling and fearful. David's head had to be covered with a big cap. By the time the cap was removed for this writer to see, the eye dropped stinking fluid intermittently and the boy was downcast.