Rokel needs help for kidney transplant operation

The family of a 20-year-old woman who is suffering from kidney failure is appealing for help to enable the young woman to have a kidney transplant.

Rokel Gladstone (second from left) and her father, Frank Gladstone (second from right) with two representatives of the Auriga Pathfinders Club yesterday.

Frank Gladstone, the father of Rokel Gladstone said he is willing to provide a kidney to his only daughter. He said that Three Rivers Foundation has agreed to assist the family with the transplant, which will be done in India. He said that the total cost is US$25,000 and the Foundation has committed to putting up to US$5,000 with an equivalent amount pledged by the Ministry of Health. The family and others are currently on a drive to raise the remaining US$15,000 by the end of July.

Speaking with Stabroek News yesterday, Frank said it was about five years ago that the principal of the Kimbia Mission Academy on the bank of the Berbice River sent Rokel home because she was experiencing swelling. She was brought to Georgetown and tests were done, which revealed that she was suffering from end stage renal disease. Both of her kidneys were failing. It was determined that she needed a kidney transplant.

Frank, a farmer, said that he took his daughter to Barbados last October for dialysis and they returned in April and continued treatment here.  Treatment is being done at the 5-G dialysis centre twice a week. The Health Ministry has agreed to help with ten sessions which costs just over $36,000 for each session. It is expensive, Frank said.

Rokel is the third of five children and when the diagnosis was made, she was forced to leave school.

She was in the Third Form at the time. Relatives expressed their gratitude to the Ministry of Health, the Three Rivers Foundation and others who contributed or offered help, for the assistance rendered so far.

Yesterday, the Auriga Pathfinders Club of the Olivet Seventh-day Adventist Church held a fund-raising drive and they also thanked those persons who contributed.

Anyone willing to make a contribution can do so at Scotia Bank account number 36465 or Republic Bank account number 741 0657 or contact the family at 666 6653 or 689 0908.

Relatives said that during the course of seeking help, they found persons facing similar situations with little help at hand. They are appealing to the government to set up a programme through which such persons can be assisted.