What filled the hall on Valentine’s Day was not a hospital visit, but a renewed promise of life and recovery for six-year-old Chimuanya Emeagwailibe, who has battled a severe brain tumour under pain, poverty and abandonment. The intervention came from the Great Ifedimma Friends Club of Nigeria, whose support has reopened the door for the young girl.
Presenting the case, the Anambra State Commissioner for Women and Social Welfare, Mrs Ify Obinabo, thanked the club for committing over ten million naira to cover the child’s hospital bills. She recalled the distressing condition in which Chimuanya and her mother were first received at the Anambra State Ministry of Women and Social Welfare, when the child could barely see, talk or move, and assured that the reported abandonment by the father and relatives would be investigated in line with the law.
Narrating her ordeal, the child’s mother, Jenifer Emeagwailibe, from Obosi, explained that Chimuanya developed sight problems at the age of two, collapsed at four and later suffered repeated seizures and said the child spent three months in coma after doctors confirmed a brain tumour and demanded about seven million naira for urgent surgery, while her husband abandoned the family,which forced the child to drop out of school and brought economic hardship to the family.
Through the intervention of the Anambra State Government under Governor Chukwuma Soludo, the case reached partners, leading to the club president, Uche Oduche, announcing an immediate first tranche of five million naira to enable Chimuanya proceed to hospital and begin treatment, with full funding to follow.
The Programme Manager of the Gender Based Violence and Peace Organization, Ubaka Onwuanibe, described the support as timely and called for wider compassion and collective responsibility towards vulnerable children and families in similar situations.
For the young mother and her children, hope has returned, with renewed confidence that Chimuanya will soon recover and return to school to play, learn and grow like her mates.
