This year’s Valentine’s Day provided just the right succour for six-year-old Chimuanya Emegwaribe, who has been diagnosed with a severe brain tumour that had paralysed her since the age of four.
The succour came from a social club, the Great Ifedinma Friends Club of Nigeria, whose pledge to undertake a surgery worth N10 million to remove the tumour reopened the door to her treatment.
The young Miss Chimuanya, who was born a normal child, had developed partial visual challenges, which later degenerated into severe problems when she fell and hit her head on the floor.
According to the mother, Mrs. Jennifer Emegwaribe, the victim was later diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2024, for which surgery was then valued at N7 million, but she had neither the money to undertake the procedure nor relatives to support her.
She said after several years of moving from one hospital and local medicine practitioner to another, she finally brought her home, when she exhausted every penny she had, resulting in deterioration of the victim’s health condition.
“My daughter, Chimuanya, developed severe sight problems, which made her partially lose her vision, and she suffers repeated seizures.
“The father had abandoned us, making the matter worse,” she lamented.
Mrs. Emegwaribe said the intervention from the Great Ifedinma Friends Club was divine and would enable her child to begin the medical process to reclaim her life, and she appreciated the club for its dedication to the plight of the poor and the distressed.
She prayed to God to bless them beyond their imaginations, expressing the hope that the daughter would once again find her life back.
Earlier, while presenting the case, the Anambra State Commissioner for Women and Social Welfare, Mrs Ify Obinabo recalled the distressing situation she met the child and her mother, that necessitated her sourcing for support for her, noting that what the club had done was not just to save a life, but also to give hope to the downtrodden that God still answers prayers.
“When the mother of the child met me and said she believed I could help her, I was at a loss as to how.
”But, when I reached out to the Great Ifedinma Friends Club, and they obliged, I knew that what God cannot do does not exist.
“For the Club to commit to undertake the N10 million surgery is indeed a major breakthrough in the process of getting the young child’s life back, and I want to sincerely appreciate them for this.
“I also want to commend the Gender Based Violence and Peace Organization, GBV&P, for the work they did in sourcing help for the victim,” she said.
Announcing the donation, the President of the Great Ifedinma Friends Club, Prince Uche Oduche, said they will be making an initial payment of the first tranche of five million naira to enable Chimuanya proceed to the hospital and commence treatment, while the full funding will follow later.
Oduche noted that the gesture by the club was in keeping with the message of love as exemplified by St Valentine, adding that the donation was one of the numerous ways the club has been giving back to society.
“This is what the Great Ifedinma Friends Club is known for. We believe in love and charity.
“When we heard about the plight of this child through the Commissioner for Women and Social Welfare, we were moved to pity, and immediately we decided to do this. The idea is to secure the life of this suffering child and give her a future, and we want to believe God that this procedure will go as planned and she will be well again,” he said.
Prince Oduche said the gesture is also in support of the State Governor, Professor Chukwuma Soludo, and the good works he is doing in the state, adding that the Ministry of Women Affairs under the present Commissioner has done a noble thing that has brought honour to the Soludo administration.
Also speaking, the Chairman of the Charity Committee of the club, Chief IKC Chukwuma, said the donation was just an expression of gratitude to God for his mercies to members of the club, assuring that they will continue to follow through the entire procedure to ensure its success.
On his part, the Programme Manager of Gender Based Violence and Peace Organization, Ubaka Onwuanibe, described the support as timely and urged more support for the suffering child and her family from other public-spirited individuals.
