Discrimination worsening our plight, says family of six hit by paralysis in Nasarawa

The paralysis afflicted family of eight in Nasarawa state on Wednesday decried their neglect and discrimination by some people in the community due to plight.

Danlami, eldest son of the family of late Danladi Bawa, made this known when correspondents of NAN visited the family at Gitata, Karu local government area of the state.

Danlami is among the six members of the same family that was paralysed after they were affected by a strange disease.

According to him, some friends, relatives and residents of the area have deserted them because of the nature of their sickness.

“I want to thank Almighty God for making us to be among the living today and to thank some of our friends, relatives and residents for their continuous show of concern, love, care and affection,” he said.

“To be sincere, I don’t have people around me again as before.”

Danladi said it is only when people move closer, give them a sense of belonging and show them love that their health would improve.

He added that the discrimination against them was worsening their health and standard of living.

He expressed regrets that despite several interactions with the media, the state government was yet to come to their aid.

On her part, Hannatu Danladi, one of their siblings, said: “I am the one taking care of my brothers and sisters that have paralysed of a strange disease. I wash their clothes, bath them and cook for them before going to school. In fact, because of their situation, I always wake up very early in the morning to prepare something for them and at times, I will be late to school.

“My prayer is for God to heal my brothers and sisters and to protect us from the strange diseases.”

She appealed to the federal and state governments as well as well-meaning Nigerians to help them through the provision of foodstuff, medical needs and economic empowerment.

When NAN visited the community after learning of the incident on March 24, Danlami told NAN that their father died in 1990, while their mother died in 2017, though not from the mysterious ailment.

“My name is Danlami Danladi, I am 38 years old; as you can see, our parents are late. My father died in 1990 after a brief illness and our mother died in 2017 from malaria and typhoid attack,” he had said.

“Our parents did not die of this disease. They gave birth to eight of us and six of us have been paralysed by a mysterious ailment. When we grow up and reach the age of 18, we find ourselves paralysed. We don’t know what happened and this kind of disease.

“When my father died, it was our mother that usually provided us with our needs. Her death affected us more as we find it difficult to eat and take care of our medical treatment.

“I am the second born of our parents and I was paralysed in 2006. And let me tell you, what disturbs us is that, six of us were paralysed when we were at the age of 18.

“It was after we grew up and we didn’t know what was happening to our family, we pray that we will be healed of this mysterious disease one day. I was repairing handsets before but now I cannot do the job because I have been paralysed and I pray that God will heal me and my brothers and sisters from this kind of mysterious disease.”

According to him, other paralysed members of the family are Asabe, married and has five children; Pius, Maikasuwa, Danjuma and Cecelia.
Other siblings, Hannatu and Joshua, are free of the disease, being the youngest members of the family.