On January 3 2018, I had finished the malaria dose but I was still feeling unwell, weak, this angered me and I decided to know what the problem was.
Living in Embakasi, the nearest community hospital is Shalom, Athi River. By 10am I was at Shalom Hospital, Athi River, and after some blood tests, H. Omar, the doctor who was handling me, said my blood had some abnormality and she prescribed some strong anti- biotic and she said I come back for check-up after a week.
On the 9th of the same month, I went for a check-up and, after several tests, Dr Omar told me they have to do further tests to find out what the problem was. They took some samples for biopsy and I was told to wait for a week for results.
I was not certified and I immediately decided to look for a second opinion. I went to the KMA Centre, Upper Hill, to see Professor Walter Mwanda of the Kenyatta National Hospital. I was given an appointment on the 10th, a Wednesday.
"You have a blood problem" Prof Mwanda said, looking me in the eye. I asked, “What do you mean?” He said, “In short, you have blood cancer. Acute leukemia that needs immediate attention.”
It was very difficult to tell my wife, Nancy Manza, because on that Wednesday before going for the check-up we had taken our firstborn to school for the first time in her life, she was not going to see me that evening.
I was admitted to the Kenyatta National Hospital. I started the process of looking for hospitals outside the country that had the ability to handle Bone Marrow Transplant. After several attempts, India was somehow cheap compared to Israel and South Africa, which were our first choices.
I started an online appeal to fundraise for Sh7.5 million that was needed for my treatment at Apollo Hospital, Ahmedabad, India.
After a week of an appeal online, and seeing how poor it was performing, I made I a special appeal to the top leadership of this country, President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto, but there was no response by the time I was to travel to India on February 7, 2018, having collected Sh500,000.
The writer is a journalist with West FM/TV
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