Seventeen-year-old Daniel Akanni is appealing to Nigerians for N2m to undergo the amputation of his left leg and be fitted with an artificial limb, following years of unsuccessful attempts to correct a congenital leg deformity.
Akanni was born with a deformity in his left leg and underwent corrective surgery at the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Igbobi, when he was about 18 months old. The surgery enabled him to walk, although the affected leg remained shorter than the other, causing him to limp and lean to one side.
Akanni, who hopes to study Petroleum Engineering, said he would be grateful for an opportunity to walk again.
“I am pleading with Nigerians to help me walk again. My parents have expended all they had.
“Please help me. I have faith that the surgery will be successful. All I need is your financial help and God will bless you all as you do so,” he pleaded.
Speaking with PUNCH Online on Thursday, his mother, Oluwatoyin, said the family had sought various medical treatments over the years in an effort to correct her son’s condition and help him walk properly.
She said, “He was born with the deformity of the left leg. When he was one and half years, we took him to Igbobi and they told us he would undergo surgery.
“The surgery was done and it was successful. So he was able to walk then but the leg was shorter than the other. So, that made him limp and he was bending towards one side.”
According to her, doctors later recommended another surgery that could help correct his gait, but the family could not afford it because of financial difficulties.
She said subsequent efforts to correct the problem ultimately worsened his condition, leaving the leg twisted and shorter.
Oluwatoyin recalled that in 2020, the family applied for a free surgery programme organised by the Lagos State Government in Ikeja, known as “Hello Lagos”, which offered surgery for children with K-leg.
She said, “We couldn’t afford the second surgery which would make him walk perfectly. So, in 2020, we heard that the Lagos State Government was organising a programme, ‘Hello Lagos’, a free surgery for children with K-leg. So, we applied and went for the surgery to correct the leg.
“It was done by some doctors at Gbagada. Despite the surgery, his condition worsened and the leg twisted and now he can’t walk again.
“We went back to the doctors and they applied POP but nothing changed. We went back again and they told us they don’t have the instrument to correct it and we were left to our fate.
“So, people then advised us to take him back to Igbobi. We did but when the doctors saw his leg, they told us there is no solution than to amputate the leg from the knee and get him an artificial limb.”
She told PUNCH Online that doctors had estimated the total cost of the amputation surgery and artificial limb at N2m, an amount the family said it could no longer raise after exhausting its resources.
“We are told to get N2m ready but we can’t afford that. Surgery is N710,000 with the artificial limb, we need N2m according to the doctors. We have nothing. We need help. We want Nigerians to help us so our son can walk again,” she lamented.
How to Help
Members of the public willing to support Akanni’s treatment can make donations to:
Bank: FCMB
Account Number: 9378042011
The family is appealing for financial assistance to enable the teenager undergo the recommended surgery and obtain an artificial limb so he can regain mobility and pursue his ambition of studying Petroleum Engineering.