Beatrice Makokha, 50 from Stabicha village, Kimilili sub-county has been battling with a rare growth on her face for the last 20 years.
In January 2000, at just 31, Ms Makokha felt a dull pain in the right side of her head and at first brushed it off as a mere headache.
However, the intense pain behind the eye got worse with each passing day. “It felt like my eye was being stabbed with a knife and I just couldn’t stop rubbing at it vigorously until it started swelling and turned red,” said Beatrice.
When the swelling persisted, she decided to go to Kitale Referral Hospital where her eye was scanned and the doctors only prescribed some pain killers.
“The scanning showed that nothing was wrong with my eye and head so the doctors prescribed painkillers for the perceived migraine,” she said.
Despite the pain killers, her eye continued to swell even more and the headache became unbearable that she decided to go back for a second checkup.
“I went back to Kitale Referral Hospital and I was referred to Eldoret Referral Hospital for further medication,” she said
Due to lack of money she instead went to the nearest private hospital in Kimilili where she was admitted for eight months.
“I was diagnosed with a rare growth, I stayed in hospital for eight months but there was no improvement so I was told to go home,” she said.
She explained that before the sickness struck, she had given birth to 14 children eight of whom died and six are alive.
Ms Makokha explained that right now the swelling has become so big that it has also largely covered her right nose making it hard to breathe.
“I have difficulties in breathing; I can only breathe through one nose. At night I sleep on the right side because on the left side of the swelling make breathing worse,” she says.
Due to lack of money to seek for specialized treatment and remove the growth, Beatrice says she has resorted to just taking pain killers to ease her pain.
Despite her suffering, Beatrice said she has not given up on finding a medical solution to her condition. She is the sole bread winner to her family
She is appealing to well-wishers to support her financially so that she can seek treatment and be able to continue taking care of her family.
By Irene Okere and Roseland Lumwamu
