The above words are taken from a deeply emotional expression that my 12-year-old son, David Tetteh Kwame Aduragba Obalolu Fasetire gave the moment he came out of an ‘induced sleep’ that was required for the doctors to administer a surgical process on his neck last weekend at Igando General Hospital.
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The first expression from his mum, who happens to be a Ghanaian, and myself was a chorused, “Thank you, Jesus;” but neither of us knew David would take it one step further with a prayer for something extra. He wants to resume football, now that the long-awaited surgery has come and gone.
Never in my wildest imagination could I ever think that my Dear David would remember anything about football while he lay there at the mercy of the crew of doctors who eventually got the process done and dusted after seven months of waiting.
I surely won’t be wrong in tagging it ‘the longest wait ever’ for a surgical process that had been declared ‘highly essential and urgent.’ As it were, the same crew of medics who told my wife sometime in July to quickly raise N300,000 in order to get the operation done early were the ones who kept us waiting for seven agonising months.
Maybe they thought we wouldn’t be able to raise the cash; but we got over N700,000 that same night through God’s grace and the love of many stakeholders in the world of sports (agents, promoters, journalists and administrators).
Thanks too to some of my former classmates from the 1984 set of old boys at Government College Lagos (GCL), Eric Moore Road, Surulere. Thanks to God that many people rallied round us the night I posted a trenchant S.O. S. on several platforms across social media.
By the time we started making payments for the surgery and everything needed for the process, the total cost (which we had been told would be about N300,000) shot up to more than N700,000 – but God took control.
We had to pay for tests, surgical items, x-ray, scan, drugs, dressing, blood transfusion, and bed space – all of which the main doctor ‘forgot’ to include in the initial bill.
Alarmingly, though, two days after making the full payments, junior doctors at the hospital went on strike, and they stayed away for seven months … until last week.
However, the long wait meant most of the things that had been bought had already expired, and we had to start making fresh payments all over again.
By and large, an English adage says, ‘All is well that ends well.’ So, rather than wail over the long wait and having to make double payments, we must give glory to God for making the surgery a huge success.
Thanks to everyone who gave us donations in an amazing flush of empathy, especially people who I least expected to lend me a helping hand. I pray that God will bless you more and reward you more abundantly.
I would have loved to reel out your names one after the other, but I’ve learnt in recent years that other people take advantage of such publicity to disturb generous donors with inordinate requests.
So, suffice it to give out this all-encompassing shower of collective gratitude from deep inside my tender heart. As I say thank you, please keep in mind another very important aspect of this health saga … the kid involved is not just my last born – he’s a brave lad who wants to be a football star in the future.
I never pushed him to do it (despite my avowed love for grassroots football). He just came to me one day and begged me to buy boots for him, because he wanted to start playing football.
That was how he joined Super Accurate Football Academy of Ikotun just four days before his 10th birthday (March 2024).
Coincidentally, as God arranges all lines to fall into pleasant places, David Fasetire (a child after God’s heart) will clock 12 years next week Monday.
That makes his successful surgery more meaningful and symbolic. So, I say happy birthday in advance to David Fasetire (aka Vivid) … the lad you all joined your resources together to assist in overcoming swollen lymphs that were turning into a cancerous tumour in his neck.
Congratulations to us all for this victory, and thanks to The Most High for making it possible…
