Sleep came hard for me on Sunday, November 8, which is a rarity. I’m usually out in less than 10 minutes after landing on the bed. But last Sunday, I must have stayed awake for more than two hours— sharing time between the phone and the ceiling fan spinning furiously to tame the heat.
Earlier in the day, news of the loss of a family friend hit me hard and I couldn’t shake it off.
Age 39, cause of death: kidney failure.
His symptoms started about a year ago: fever, weight loss, poor appetite, shortness of breath, itchy skin, frequent urination. He was mostly dismissive of it as signs of stress and hardly slowed down.
A non-smoker, he found out that his kidneys were severely damaged to the point that he could not walk for 15 minutes without feeling like he had run a marathon.
An entrepreneur, he poured his savings, business capital, and later, family and friends joined to pay the weekly dialysis. His wife quit her job to take care of him.
He needed GH₵325 to attend a session of dialysis and for the ideal three sessions weekly, he blows away GH₵ 975 to stay alive.
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