Health News of Wednesday, 5 April 2017

Source: gofundme.com

Support for Dr. Cyril Daddieh

Support for Dr. Cyril Daddieh Support for Dr. Cyril Daddieh

I am Charles Daddieh and I am setting up this fund raiser for my father Dr. Cyril Daddieh, who fell victim to a severe left brain stroke and brain aneurism in April 2016.

To tell you a little bit about my father would be to tell you the struggles and obstacles he has had to overcome to become the man he was before this illness befell him. He was born in a small village in Ghana on the west coast of Africa to the Nzema people, a tribe of fisherman. Dirt poor, he grew up without running water or electricity, and where most members of the village slept on the ground outside.

My father didn't own a pair of shoes until he was in high school, but all the while took a huge interest in learning. His intellectual prowess and his drive to learn enabled him to stand out among his peers and catch the attention of teachers and other intellectuals who knew he could succeed...and he did when he became the first person in his family and in his whole village to be accepted to college (Ripon College in Wisconsin).

There was only one problem... Although he acquired a full ride to college, with a family in America willing to take him in while he went to school, he still had to acquire a plane ticket which cost 1,000 dollars, more money than he could ever hope to acquire in his lifetime.

That was until a cousin of his from the village played the lottery and against many odds won almost exactly 1000 dollars. Without hesitation, his cousin bought my father the plane ticket and gave it to him with the promise that when he makes something of himself that he gives back to the village. My father boarded that plane and the rest was history.

He went on to complete his bachelors, then his masters, and finally his Ph.D., finding work at numerous universities teaching political science until finally we moved to Ohio and he became the director of Black World Studies and part of the Political Science Department at Miami University of Oxford.

Every summer since I was little, my father would save up throughout the year 'til summer and then spend hundreds even thousands on clothes, toys, and food for his village in Ghana. He paid back his loan and brought electricity, shoes and prosperity to his village. He never again asked for any handouts since that first 1000 dollars his cousin gave him way back when...until now,

My fathers condition is pretty grim since he lost his ability to talk, he can no longer walk and he had half of his skull surgically removed due to the swelling of his brain from a second aneurism.

He has shown some improvement thanks to the hard working staff at UC Hospital and Christ Hospital in Cincinnati, but the medical bills and insurance company are dictating what level of care we can continue to provide for him. He now is facing two additional surgery's to replace the bone that was removed in May when the second aneurism occurred.

The weight of this has begun to affect my mother worst of all, she continues to work long hours to keep everything going even though her own health is not very good at the moment, and I have begun to see the toll it is taking on her, emotionally, physically, and financially.

I really want to help my father and mother out anyway I can . So if after reading this you find it within your hearts, and within your ability to contribute in any way to my fathers medical bills, literally anything would be appreciated.

Please keep my father is your prayers as well if you would. Thank you and God bless.