‘Initially, I was surprised’ – GIJ lecturer suffering from kidney failure recounts the moment of a rude awakening

A young lecturer at Ghana’s premier specialised communications school, the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ), Phillip Atawura, has recounted the very moment he realised that the medical condition he had been diagnosed with had reached alarming levels.

The lecturer, speaking publicly about his story with Daniel Oduro, host of The Lowdown on GhanaWeb TV, for the first time, said that on the very day, the diagnosis was made to him, he had even walked a long distance from the main entrance of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital.

For him, that news did not sound as scary as when he had to be retained at the hospital, although, as he added, he was on his way back to school.

“I walked to the hospital. You know, from the Korle-Bu entrance to the medical ward but I walked from the entrance all by myself and from there, I was going back to school. So, initially, I was surprised. I didn’t believe it; I was in the denial stage until the doctor told me to sit and wait for a nurse to come for me to the ward,” he explained.

Phillip Atawura then explained that things took a rude quick turn on him soon enough when the nurse assigned to him, came to him.

While seated on a bed and waiting for her, he told Daniel Oduro that in his mind, he imagined that he would just have to follow the nurse, on foot, but how she came for him woke him up to the harsh reality of the state of the condition he was in.

“I thought the nurse was just coming to say, ‘Phillip, let’s go,’ but when the nurse came, she came with a wheelchair and I was like, is this how pathetic my situation has become? I told the nurse I can walk but she said, no, that my condition is such that she can’t guarantee what would happen next if I should walk. And that was the turning point for me,” he explained.

Until he publicly announced his condition, the young lecturer had been silently dealing with the condition for over 2 years, he told the host of the Lowdown on GhanaWeb TV.

Phillip Atawura also shared several other interesting details about his journey with kidney failure, plus calls he is making to the government on how it can help patients like him.

Watch the full interview on GhanaWeb TV below:





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