Surgery leaves woman blind, without frontal bone

Florence Kwamboka. [PHOTO: KENAN MIRUKA]

By KENAN MIRUKA

KISII, KENYA: A woman in Kisii has for the past five years lived without her forehead bone and blind following an operation to remove a brain tumour (neuroma tumour).

Florence Kwamboka’s world has remained dark owing to her blindness and without the crucial frontal bone in her forehead; she lives precariously knowing any knock on her head will spell disaster.

She cannot fend for her children who are now forced to take care of her. It started in 2006 when she experienced persistent headache and pain in the eye.

She sought treatment at Kisii Level Five Hospital but the situation deteriorated. “I started losing my sight and could occasionally see darkness and had persistent headache,” she reveals. After a CT-scan, she was transferred to Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital where she was operated in August of the same year.

The family now hires someone to cook for their children. “Life is hard for me now because I can’t do what I used. I pray God opens a way to help me undergo reconstructive surgery,” says Florence.

Owing to her blindness, the risk of injuring her head is heightened and she has to monitor her movement. She moves round with a walking stick and under the guidance of someone.

Prior to her sickness, she was a small scale vegetable farmer and trader subsidising her husband’s earnings to fend for their family.