By Grace Q. Bryant
Salome Mulbah, a single mother, is urgently appealing for medical assistance to help her seven-year-old son, Christian, who was born with severe medical complications in 2017.
Christian was born without several vital organs, including a bladder and penis, and has suffered from constant pain throughout his young life.
Overwhelmed by financial and emotional stress, Ms. Mulbah appeared on Spoon FM, to seek help from the public, civil society organizations, and NGOs to alleviate her son’s suffering.
Ms. Mulbah explained that, since her son’s birth, she has sought help from various medical professionals and organizations, but long-term assistance has been elusive.
According to her, in 2019, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) performed surgery, but it failed to restore Christian’s penis, leaving the family in a dire situation.
“I’ve been begging for help since my son was born. He’s in pain every day. The surgery at MSF made things worse for him. I just want my child to be pain-free”, she said.
Ms. Mulbah also shared the challenges of raising her son alone, noting that his father abandoned the family, leaving her with the full responsibility of caring for Christian.
As a single mother with no stable source of income, Ms. Mulbah struggles to provide for her son, relying on small, irregular domestic jobs such as assisting with cooking and house cleaning.
Despite these hardships, she stressed that she has managed to enroll Christian in school for the first time this year, adding, “thanks to a kind friend who teaches at the school and helps care for the boy”, she expressed.
She noted that her son’s condition has taken both a physical and emotional toll on him. “He cannot live like other children. He needs a special care every day, and people in the community look at us differently”, she said. “He does not play with other children because of his medical condition and as a child, he really wants to be with them (his friends) but it’s sad he can’t.”
Ms. Mulbah is urgently seeking support for surgery outside Liberia to give her son a chance at a better life like any other child.
“I just want my son to be okay. I’m praying for someone to help us because as the mother, despite his condition, I can’t turn my back on him”, she said.
In this age when the sustainable development goal seeks to leave no one behind, it is hoped that little Christian can be assisted by organization or people of goodwill to see that his critical medical condition can be managed.
Those wishing to assist can contact Salome Mulbah directly or through the media outlet that facilitated her appearance. She can be reached at 0777 533 208 or 0555 655 200.
