I decided to commit suicide -Suffering eye tumor patient

A 39-year-old lady, Mary Dogbe, in a farming community called Abena Awia in the Okere District of the Eastern Region, who battled tumour in the eye for five years, has said that she decided to commit suicide when it appeared all hopes were gone.
According to the relatively young lady, life was so hard for her to bear, and she, therefore, decided to end her life since there was no helper with its corresponding neglect by her husband and family until As I Grow (AIG), a Larteh-Akuapim-based non-profit organisation, came to her rescue.
It would be recalled that The Chronicle Newspaper, in its November 19, 2016 edition, published a story under the headline “NGO woos financial support for lady…suffering from eye tumor.”
The paper reported that Mary, who hails from Abena Awia, a farming community in the then Akuapem North Municipality, peels cassava for gari producers for a paltry daily wage of GH¢4 to take care of her three children, with the eldest then 16 years.
The hard-working lady, whose marriage has seen a nosedive, is financially strapped and currently not working, following her untimely situation, and can hardly buy food, let alone, pain killers.
Mary, who contacted the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of AIG, Mr. Isaac Debrah Bekoe, for financial aid to undergo medical treatment, said it all started like a headache and migraine, and later pain in the right eye.

The eye later developed this tumor resulting in her visiting hospitals such as the Nsawam Government Hospital twice, Emmanuel Eye Clinic, and Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital five times.
At Korle-Bu, a test was run and she was asked to consult her family and get some money for the eye to be operated upon, but, unfortunately, nobody was there to help and she had to borrow medicines from drug retailers to ease her pains.
She stopped going to the hospital at a point in time because she had no money, work, or even insurance, whilst using the GH¢4 she sometimes earns to fend for herself and her 16 years child.
Through the instrumentality of the NGO Mary went for the first screening at Korle-Bu on September 6, 2016. “Due to financial constraints, we are yet to go for the next medical screening to book an appointment for the surgery. We hereby seek public support to help Mary Dogbe, who cannot even sleep.”
Giving a testimony at a mini fundraising for 2021 advocacy work and donations to missionaries at Larteh on Saturday, the eye tumor survivor and now a business woman disclosed that she would be dead by now if not for the NGO.
Narrating the ordeal, Mary indicated that her condition reached a critical stage as fluid dripped from the affected eye, with the disease gradually spreading to the other eye.
At this stage, she had lost hope in getting support to undertake the eye surgery. Her only hope was in God to cure her to enable her to take care of her little children.
She explained that she was left to die with the disease, which made her right eye to protrude, accompanied by stigmatisation in the community as having been punished by the gods for her evil deeds.
“Not only did I go through excruciating pains, but economically inactive, which made me more impoverished, abandoned by my husband who deserted the community, and lost friends and families as a result of my condition,” she stressed.
Makes major gains with GH¢500 seed capital
Mary, however, endured by working as labourer despite her condition, for a meagre income to take care of herself and her three children.
On April 11, 2016, while in her village dispirited, As I Grow spotted her during a visit to the community for a humanitarian exercise.
In 2017, Mary underwent successful surgery at Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, and in an effort to bring back her socio-economic life, the Adenta branch of The Church of Pentecost presented seed capital of GH¢500 to her which she used to start porridge business in her village in 2018.
Almost two years down the line, Mary has turned around the relatively meagre capital to make profit. Through savings, she has recently purchased a motorbike to be used for commercial transport business in the village.
“After my surgery, I challenged myself that sight is life, so once through the NGO I have my sight, and the fact that they gave me seed capital, I needed to work harder to change my destiny. I have been selling porridge and bread, and through little savings of my profit, I have managed to purchase a motorbike. My expectation is that I will expand my business and get a provision shop to take care of my children.”
The CEO of the NGO, Debrah Bekoe Isaac, was happy over the success story of Mary. He assured her that the NGO would continue to offer her technical support to grow her business.

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