Little Kehinde’s story; the journey so far.

I’m learning to be more consistent in life. Truth is, we never know how close we are to the finish line when we throw in the towel. I did a little follow up on Little Kenny to know how far we’ve gone and when I say we, I mean everyone who has contributed one way or the other, either by retweeting, reblogging, sharing the story on Facebook, offered prayers or paid in money into the account. We are all in this together and I want to say a big thank you for the support so far.

It’s been difficult meeting up with Alaba but thankfully I met her with the twins last week at T.Y. Danjuma Foundation and I must say Little Kenny is a beauty to behold. He’ll definitely grow into some handsome guy. I did a little interview with Alaba to give an update on the journey so far. So here we go

How has it been, since you took it upon yourself to help?

It has not been easy for me at all. I even missed my terminal clearance, am afraid it will affect my N.Y.S.C. passing out but I don’t mind because all the effort put in, is worth it.

 Which hospital is handling his case?

We were previously going to Garki hospital but recently referred to Abuja National hospital and scheduled in two weeks’ time to see a Consultant. It’s sad to see the attitude of some of the doctors I’ve met; some have been so nonchalant. One of the doctors said it’s a rare case but it’s amazing to see some of them treating the case as though it’s a common case. For the first time since I’ve been seeing the Doctors, an Egyptian called God’s name and told the mum the child will be fine.

 Can the operation be carried out in Nigeria?

A lot of doctors have advised he should go abroad for proper treatment. They further said a hospital with a Paediatric Intensive Unit, an Anaesthesiologist will best hand his case.

What is the recent status of the diagnosis?

His test result came out last week and the following were certified normal; Spleen, Kidney, Liver, Pancreas, Frontal part of Brain. The hernia is growing bigger and another one (Inguinal) was discovered. Initially it wasn’t visible which means the neck of the hernia is small which can lead to death by strangulation.

A brief summary of how far you’ve gone in raising funds?

I am very grateful to those who have contributed however little. At least I’m able to pay his medical bills, food and also ease the burden of his parents. In a week his account I opened with N80, 000.00 increased to over N700, 000.00. I was excited when a group of mums called M.O.M. met us at Garki Hospital and gave him some money. Some of them broke down in tears; I had to hold myself back. If you see him, you’ll also cry, but I don’t cry for Kenny rather I cry because of the laid back attitude of the doctors involved.

What would you want to say to those reading now?

I can’t thank you enough for your contribution so far. Please don’t stop contributing so Kenny can get quick and immediate attention. God will repay everyone; a miracle will definitely come your way. May we not be in this kind of situation, but it could be either me or you. Please help in any way you can.

***End***

That’s how far we’ve gone but I want to add something. It’s easy for Alaba to get lost in the shadow and no one will say anything about her; I want everyone reading this to know she has a good, fighting spirit. She went to T.Y. Danjuma Foundation without knowing anyone there; she just got the information from the internet and headed there for help. Alaba you may have heard this before, but you can never hear enough of it. May God show up for you in a way you’ll never imagine. For this singular act of kindness, you’ve engraved your name on the sand of time and nothing will wipe it away. You are indeed a worthy vessel in God’s hand and because you’re taking care of His own child Kenny, He’ll take care of all that concerns you including your N.Y.S.C.

To everyone reading this, thanks for sparing a few minutes. It’s not over until we see Kenny totally restored to good health. I’ll keep you posted on the rest of his journey.

LOADS OF LOVE

JMAD

Little Kehinde shares a story.

That’s me and Taye in Aunty Alaba’s hands. May God bless those hands.

My name is Kehinde Olaniyi, but you can call me Keny: I was born three weeks ago with my twin Taye. Mummy says I have Multiple Congenital Anomalies (MCA).  I don’t know what it means, but Aunty JMAD will explain it better to you.

MCA is a condition which is present at the time of birth with two or more unrelated major structural malformations, that can’t be explained by a syndrome or sequence. In Keny’s case he has the following;

• Hernia: – This is the protrusion of an organ through the wall of the cavity that normally contains it.
• Cryptorchidism: – This is also known as undescended testicles. As a boy grows inside his mother’s womb, his testicles form inside his abdomen and moves down (descend) into the scrotum shortly before birth but in this case Keny’s testicle is outside the scrotum. If it’s not treated may become damaged which could affect fertility or lead to other medical problems.
• No Gluteal Cleft: – This simply means he doesn’t have a “butt crack”, this is the groove between the buttocks.
• Scoliosis: – This is a condition in which a person’s spine is curved from side to side. If viewed from the rear may look like an S or C instead of a straight line. This could lead to putting lots of pressure on the heart, restriction of physical activities.
• Skin rashes
• Weighs 1.54kg. Some other test will be out soon.

I’ve chosen to be strong for his sake. Through a network of friends, I got in contact with the lady championing this cause. Her name is Alaba Olukotun (Taniz Makeover). She’s a corper serving in Abuja; Kenny’s father is her Cab man. This is what she said “When I saw the baby, I couldn’t stand it; tears rolled down my face like a baby, and I decided, that I can’t just watch him grow like that”. She went further to take pictures with Keny to prove her genuineness. She goes to the hospital all the time with his mother; she’s not so conversant with English language.

We may never meet Keny in our lives here on earth but we can collectively do something that will touch him irrespective of our current locations. The doctors have recommended a surgery that will cost over two million naira (N2, 000,000.00).

She opened an account for him. Here’s the bank detail: –

Bank Name – First Bank Plc.

Branch – Utako, Abuja.

Acct. Name – Kehinde Olaniyi

Acct. No. – 3071759501

You may not afford the entire sum but whatever it is, however little , will go a long way. We’ve been given a voice that yields actions, to help those who have no voice at all. By God’s grace Kenny will live. I’m hopeful, we all should be.  I’m already looking forward to writing a post on his recovery. Please remember all that was said in my previous post at: https://jmadreflects.wordpress.com/2013/05/15/fast-lane/

Don’t say “It is well”, when you have the required help in your hands.

May God richly reward you, as you sow a seed of kindness in Kenny’s life.

You can contact me for more information or Alaba Olukotun on this number +234-8060-524-722. Please spread the story, reblog, broadcast on BB.

LOADS OF LOVE

JMAD.

Fast Lane

It was a beautiful Sunday morning. I had woken up a little late and I needed to be in church on time (if you remember my bouncing episode I talked about in Tomorrow Never Comes). I got to church a little past 6.30 a.m., getting to the gate I saw a minister in the Youth Church trying to get some change to pay the cab man. I had the exact amount in my hand but I had plans for it in church. I simply told her ‘bye’ and ran off to meet prayers in church leaving her behind. So much for been a Christian. (Yea I can see you shaking your head in disbelief)

Just imagine you are watching a dual view TV, press pause and play backwards to June 2012 on the other screen. I had closed from work. A friend gave me a lift to somewhere convenient to get a cab and suddenly the Heaven’s opened up and I had some good showers of rain. I had no umbrella, no sort of shade close by and it was getting dark. The more I stretched my hand for a taxi the greater the intensity of the downpour. I literally gave up and just stood helpless until an angel in form of a Policeman stopped. He offered me a ride, not bothered I was soaked and will mess his car up (and please don’t give me the talk of me being a lady) it was already dark. He wasn’t going my way so he stopped me where he had to turn off. I started another journey on foot, thanks to the crazy traffic on the road and just then a car turned off from the traffic to help me. An elderly Muslim; he took me straight to my house and that was it.

We are all conversant with the Good Samaritan story (Luke 10 vs 25 -37). In the two stories I shared, I was the priest who passed by the lady who needed the change (I didn’t want to get to church late). Did I mention I eventually got in late; and I ask, did Christ die for the church or for human beings? The policeman and the Muslim were the good Samaritans depicted in the Bible.

I won’t go through the stress of asking if you’ve acted like the priest, maybe you’ve been a saint all your life rather, I’ll speak directly to those of us who’ve Christianity placed on our forehead and our actions are a far cry from what it ought to be.

Most of us are on the fast lane. We are like racers in Formula One, our eyes are fixed on the finishing line and we can’t afford to look left or right, in fact if someone gets in our way we may run them down. It took my selfish action to realise this hard truth.

Just like we’ve been having a series on “LOVE” in church and God reminded me through His daughter Pst. Sarah Omakwu, people are tired of hearing Jesus loves them, all they need is food, shelter, clothing, money to go to school etc. Just the simple necessities of life. We love this phrase ‘It’s well’. Who knows, I may have given that lady the same reply even when I had the solution to her needs in my hand. Someone is sick and needs to buy drugs, you’ve the money with you and you pat the person on the shoulder and say It’s well.

We don’t have to wait to have our names enlisted on Forbes’s magazine to help someone. All we need is a willing heart and the push we need will be available. Make up your mind to be the reason, there’s a smile on someone’s face. Don’t ask someone to come back tomorrow, when you can help them today. You just never know who’s at the edge of the cliff waiting to take a dive.

You may have been like me, selfish and concerned with the finishing line, but one experience changed it. Truth is there’s no set time to get to the finishing line of life. We can stop and pick people up. When we’re gone, it’s the little seed of kindness that will prove we walked this earth. I’ll end with the words of Beyoncé in the song ‘I WAS HERE’

I want to say I lived each day, until I died

And know that I meant something in, somebody’s life

The hearts I have touched, will be the proof that I lived

That I made a difference and this world will see

I was here

I lived, I loved

I was here

I did, I’ve done everything that I wanted

And it was more than I thought it would be

I will leave my mark so everyone will know

LOADS OF LOVE

JMAD.

My book of remembrance.

As a kid I had lots of diaries, I remember my dad giving me a diary that had perfumed papers and a lock. I so adored it, I took it for an Inter-Secondary school competition, carried it wherever I went and took down notes; felt like a tourist. Down the road I had diaries that contained memorable events, especially dates where someone hurt me. At least it aided my memory.

There has been a debate on what gender the computer should be referred to. Someone said a female, because of the ability to store information and many years later the information can be retrieved. I quite agree. I am good at storing information especially the not so good ones. Therefore anyone who hurt me had a special place reserved for them, it had to take a total wipe-out of my brain to remove the memory but even at that, some tiny fragments of memory may still get attached to a strand of hair. Some years back, if you had a look into my heart, you would have seen many people held bound because of unforgiveness. Funny thing is, some of them may not have known they hurt me, it may have been a casual statement and I clung to it.

Over the years God has been breaking me and teaching me how to let go. Am I saying it’s been easy? Definitely NO! There were times I was let down by people I believed in and all I felt like doing was slam their heads into a wall but I couldn’t, I will just vent out on my pillow with uncontrolled tears while on some other occasion I was so shocked at what the person did, a single tear couldn’t drop, I just stared into space in silence. Through it all I’m getting better.

Recently our house-help did something really annoying, I was so upset and I just said I’ll try and be a little mean to him. You know what? I had said that so many times in the past and I never did it and it occurred to me, I was beginning to let go and give people some more chances. Truth is, we say this prayer a lot, in fact we grew up knowing it “Lord forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us”. Has it become a ritual we just say or do we really mean it? If it’s a ritual then you’ve no problem, but if you mean it then you’re shooting yourself in the foot.

You may be like me or even had worse cases of betrayals, disappointments and all; you’re saying you can’t give anyone another chance. I wouldn’t blame you, I don’t know how you feel and may never know. Truth is, in times like this all we want is for our feelings of anger to be pacified by getting back at the person. Here’s the thing, you’ve been hurt already, and holding onto the hurt is only increasing the pain. Maybe you didn’t have the opportunity to prevent the situation but you have the privilege of deciding what that situation will do to you. It can only make you better or worse. If you ask me, I think you should go with the better choice.

Let go and live. You may have to go back to your childhood memories to start the forgiving process. Bishop T.D. Jakes in his message “Faith to Forgive” said, Jesus knew the importance of forgiveness that’s why He prayed on the cross for the forgiveness of those who crucified Him, so on His resurrection He wouldn’t be held back. You have carried that hurt for too long. It’s time to let it go. If you want to travel far, you’ve got to travel light. Unforgiveness is a truck load; it’ll simply wear you out. It doesn’t end in just saying I FORGIVE YOU rather mean it. Don’t go bringing it up to some other person, leave it buried.

I started doing something a while ago. I have a book where I write down all the good things that happen to me. It’s my own BOOK OF REMEMBRANCE. Whenever I feel down, confused or finding it hard to trust God, I flip through the pages. It’s a way of reminding me, if I pulled through then, this too shall pass. When I’m gone, it can be a form of encouragement to anyone who stumbles upon it.

I urge you to tow this path of life. Give room for people’s short-comings besides you ain’t 100% perfect. “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it” Prov. 4 vs. 23 NIV. Be careful what you let into your heart. The battle of unforgiveness is won there. Go to bed every night with a light heart, if you have to call to make-up before you sleep, be bold and do it. Unforgiveness is a silent killer. May God strengthen you as you take this step.

Loads of Love

JMAD