On 31st December 2010, we received our new year gift with the birth of Mosope, amid the celebration, there was a challenge, Mosope was born with Proximal focal femoral deficiency (PFFD), i got confused as i have never seen nor hear of this condition.
We immediately met with our local doctor that referred us to an orthopaedic consultant, the Professor advised that it will be risky to get treatment for her in our home country (Nigeria) as we might not have the required expertise and facilities for super hip procedure that will be required, he told us Dr Paley will be our best option for this treatment. With the Professor’s report, we engaged Dr Paley, and he gave us the big relief that with a couple of surgeries (one super hip and couple of limb lengthening) in her lifetime, our beloved daughter will be able to walk, run and play like other children.
In 2011, we got the cost of the super hip surgery estimated to be 119,267USD, this was massive cost due to the valuation of our local currency against the US dollars, this was about my six years gross annual income, i shared with Dr Paley how difficult it would be for us to raise the funding, he gave his word and i quote “I will make it happen” , few months later he reached out to me that he has been able to get a charity to support with the funding along with the little funds that we will able to raise, we became very excited as we believe this will start the treatment for our daughter but getting a US visa became a challenge despite the letters from Dr Paley to the embassy, after applying about three times over about 4 years, our hopes started dwindling.
Over this period, we kept our communication lines open with the Dr Paley and he kept responding and giving us the reassurance that it will happen, this communication kept our hopes alive, for this we thank Dr Paley as he did not give up on us.
In 2015, after several visa denials by the US embassy, I suggested that we could have the surgery done out of US as our daughter is growing by the day and the difference in the limbs kept on increasing, this Dr Paley equally agreed, we considered Isreal, this did not work out due to insecurity in the region.
Still we kept our communications lines open to Dr Paley, On June 15th, 2023, i got an email from Dr Paley that he has some funding that can support the surgery of our daughter and he has a centre in Abu Dhabi where he usually visits at intervals where the surgery will take place, that was like the best news i have received in my lifetime, for this i thank Dr Paley and we will eternally be grateful.
Then the visa challenge came up as issuance of visa to Nigerians was on hold by UAE, this seems like the best opportunity as our daughter who is 13 then was not getting any younger, we had to use all at our disposal to ensure that we get the visa. On 9th May we succeeded in getting the visa to catch up with the appointment with Dr Paley, scheduled visit of May 2025.
We started gathering ourselves by raising funds for the trip from savings, family, friends and loans to take care of the flight, feeding and accommodation in Abu Dhabi, this is enormous due to the conversions rates of our local currency to USD and AED, we must appreciate again Dr Paley for giving our daughter hope of better livelihood for supporting with the surgery and hospital cost.
We arrived in Dubai on 24th of May where we were received by a personnel of the hospital that drove us to the clinic in Abu Dhabi, on arrival we were received warmly at the reception, i must confess, i have never seen any hospital as beautiful as Burjeel medical centre (BMC), every service is world class, friendly and prompt pickup service from the hotel, excellent Dr Paley’s team, friendly Paley clinic staffs, very accommodating ICU personnel, nutritious food, good ward environment and nurses, physiotherapist is top notch, Advanced care team; willing to support, very beautiful overall ambience.
I thank God for the successful super hip surgery of my daughter and specially appreciate everyone and teams that has supported us in this medical journey of our daughter, we are looking forward to our return for the limb lengthening surgeries that are expected to come up in the future, it will be an opportunity to reconnect with these great people and wonderful teams.
Thank you, Dr Paley and the entire team.
Thank you, BMC and the entire team.
Thank you, Advanced care and the entire team.
We will eternally be grateful for this support.
