A couple at Ekumfi Emmuna in the Central Region, Mr and Mrs Ibrahim, have threatened to take their lives and those of four of their children who are paralysed and dumb.
Mr and Mrs Ibrahim are blessed with seven children, but four of them have been struck with paralysis and dumbness.
The situation has rendered them cashless because they have sold all their property to seek help for the children.
The little savings of Mr Ibrahim have been exhausted. His salary as a security man at Half Assini Senior High School is what he depends to fend for himself and the family.
According to him, life is becoming unbearable, hence his threat to end the pain the family is going through by taking everybody’s life.
Mr Ibrahim said the condition of his children was first reported at the Bonyere Hospital in the Western Region, where they were given a referral letter to the Children’s Hospital at Efua Nkwanta in Takoradi, where they were diagnosed of the condition.
He added that after spending all his life savings on the children and realising that there was no improvement in their health conditions, he decided to try prayer camps, but that has not helped either.
“As I speak to you now, none of the four can speak nor walk and they always ease or soil themselves, which has forced my wife to always be close to them,” he said as tears flew from his eyes.
According to the couple, the first three children are well, sound and healthy and were therefore surprised to detect that the other four had paralysis and dumbness defects after birth.
Speaking to the DAILY HERITAGE, the 55-year-old Mr Ibrahim and her wife, Mrs Araba Ibrahim, said ever since medical doctors diagnosed the diseases, society had frowned on them, with some people raining insults at them for being “accursed people.”
“Because they always rain insults on us, my wife and the children have abandoned their hometown and are now living in a prayer camp to avoid all societal pressure,” he said.
Mrs Ibrahim said the four children are Jamila Ibrahim (16), Ishatu Ibrahim (13), Ibraimah Ibrahim (nine) and Ali Issah (five).
At Half Assini Senior High School in the Jomoro District, the assistant headmaster of the school, Mr Elijah Nkrumah, confirmed the plight of Mr Ibrahim and said the current salary that he earns at the end of the month could not cater for the children’s health needs.
He, therefore, called on well-wishers to support Mr Ibrahim and family to find medical care for the children.
Mr and Mrs Ibrahim are also calling on the general public and philanthropists, both home and abroad, to assist them correct the conditions of their children since there have run into indebtedness in trying to seek medical care.
