Life on hold: The story of a 28-year-old nurse fighting for life against kidney failure

Completing nursing school may mark a proud beginning of a fulfilling career for most young adults, financial independence, and a bright future of saving lives.

But for Patience Appau Owusu, a 28-year-old trained nurse, graduation did not lead her to work at hospital wards but rather saw the wards become her unusual home as she is admitted countless number of times.

Her life has been agonisingly put on hold as she fights a grueling, solitary battle for survival against stage 5 chronic kidney disease.

“I always compare myself to them (course mates) in my mind. That if not for sickness, I’d also be working by now. So, I always feel sad about that. that if not for this sickness, I would’ve been working with them,” Patience retorted as she panted for breath.

Just as she was preparing to write her final licensing examinations at Tepa Nursing Training School in the Ahafo Ano North Municipality of the Ashanti region, Patience’s world unraveled.

What started as subtle physical struggles degenerated into a chronic condition after hospital diagnosis revealed a devastating truth – her kidneys were failing.

“I was at Tepa. I was about to write my final exams, that’s my license exams. That was when I started feeling sick. So, I went to a hospital called Pesga, and the doctor told me I’m having a kidney failure. That was when I discovered I’m having a kidney failure. So, he referred me to Sunyani Teaching Hospital, which I met a doctor over there. Then, he started the procedure over there. From then, I came to Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital”

Patience’s existence has been confined to regular dialysis sessions and a desperate wait for a life-saving kidney transplant.

The once active, vibrant and abled young woman full of energy with potential to become a nurse and serve her community now relies on her mother for everything, including the most basic daily needs such as bathing, walking outside, and even feeding.

“In my daily routine, my mum will bathe me… even when I want to eat, they have to feed me. Because when I try to do something on my own, I feel exhausted. Even when I want to walk, my mum needs to support me… I can’t do something without getting exhausted.”There’s little Patience could do now, as her days of toil and sleepless nights to pass her examinations have all come to naught.

“When I look at the old me because I was very active, the old me and I have always had an aspiration to work hard. But due to this sickness, I can’t do anything on my own. I can’t go anywhere. Even when I look at my certificates too, I cry.”.

Confined to a bed on the floor, she battles fluctuating body temperatures and severe physical discomfort as she cannot lie down comfortably for long periods.“Even when I look at my certificates, I cry.”

Patience has lived with this condition for the past four years. She requires three dialysis sections a week, the cost of two of which, until recently, were absorbed by the government.Despite the state support, the financial burden of expensive medications and regular dialysis has pushed her single mother, a seamstress at Tepa to the brink.

“I am unable to work as a seamstress at Tepa. Why me? Why should I be the one to fight this complex disease? I cannot leave her side to work. This has brought untold hardship on us.”

Patience joins a long queue of kidney failure patients receiving care at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital.

Doctors say Patience first developed an autoimmune condition called lupus, which in turn affected her kidneys.

“Unfortunately for her, she’s developed kidney failure, and when we say kidney failure or end-stage kidney disease, what it means is that the kidneys are practically not working. And because of that, she’s going to require some support, which we call hemodialysis, to be able to survive,” says a Consultant Nephrologist, Prof. Elliot Koranteng Tannor.

So what is an autoimmune condition? A consultant nephrologist at KATH who is also an associate professor at the School of Medical Sciences at KNUST, Prof. Elliot Koranteng Tannor, has been explaining how autoimmune conditions affect the body.

“For her in particular, we believe what may have caused her condition is this autoimmune. When we say autoimmune, what we are saying is that for some reason, especially in females, some part of the body starts fighting other parts of the body, right? So instead of your body fighting against infections, somehow, somehow, things can go amiss and they begin to fight the organs of the body. So when they fight the heart or they fight the liver or they fight the kidney, we have names for it. And for her in particular, this autoimmune condition which we call lupus has affected her kidney.” Prof Tannor added.

The Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital has, for the last 10 years, seen kidney-related cases at the Outpatient Department quadruple. At least, 70 per cent of cases seen at KATH are in their end stages because the cases are reported late.

The renal dialysis centre sees at least 20 cases daily. Kidney failure caused by lupus is common in the consulting rooms. Prof Tannor says the permanent solution to Patience’s condition is a kidney transplant.

“As I speak to you now, she’s already started kidney replacement therapy, which we call hemodialysis. And she’s going to need this hemodialysis for the rest of her life until she’s able to replace, or until she’s able to get a kidney transplantation.”

Though a donor is available, the cost involved in the surgery and palliative care is estimated at US $100,000, something Patience cannot afford.

Patience is appealing to the public for financial assistance to raise funds for her transplant surgery so she can reclaim her life, especially her career.

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