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Like any other child of his age, young Mike has dreams: chief among them, he wants to explore the world around him. He wants to exuberantly run around with his peers, and learn through play as the young ones ought to.
But he cannot, and has not been able to for more than eight years now, due to an ailment that has left him with an irreversible blurred vision, a huge growth on the lower lip and another one on the left side of the face.
Allergic to the sun (a condition known in medical terms as xeroderma pigmentosa), Mike’s world is reduced to indoor play with his sister, who is his best friend as other children now shun him.
His life is daily punctuated by excruciating pain: a pain that visibly shows on his young resilient face, and withers the heart.
Michael Chikuku is 10 years old and is in Grade 4 at Zimbiru Primary School in Domboshava.
His father, Vincent Chikuku, a self-employed welder, said Michael’s skin problem began when he was one-and-a-half years old.
He and his wife Rumbidzai Ndovi, Mike’s mother, a housewife, thought the condition would come to pass. However, it deteriorated, and brought further complications which saw the boy frequently visiting and being admitted to hospital where numerous operations were done on him.
His parents say he started developing some growths on the tongue and lips which were operated on routinely as a way of curbing them. The operations, however, did not help much as the condition has since deteriorated.
With his fighting spirit, Mike endured it all, and now he has developed eye problems.
Doctors say his vision can only be aided by special glasses since the condition is irreversible.
The Covid-19 pestilence, and the resultant lockdown in effect since March 30 to arrest its spread, has worsened Michael’s plight.
He is supposed to have been operated on, but the facilities are out of reach.
A certain doctor, the parents reveal, suggested a minor operation to the lip at a cost of US$100: an amount they are failing to raise.
Besides requiring financial help to undergo an operation, Mike needs money to purchase sunscreen creams (SPF 50) on a monthly basis; Moisol eyedrop for his sore eyes; UBV sunglasses; and pain stops.
Due to his affected eyesight, the lad was recommended for a special school where he will make use of braille facilities.
The money required to meet Michael’s needs is way beyond his parents’ punching weight, particularly so in the Covid-19 induced lockdown, now on Level 2, which has halted his father’s revenue inflows from his welding enterprise, hence the need to seek help in cash or kind from well-wishers to mitigate Mike’s predicament.
An ardent believer, one of his worried teachers at Zimbiru Primary School, Mr Tendai Nyagato divulges, Mike always asks his fellow devotees at the United Method Church which he and his parents attend in Domboshava to always pray for him.
Those who can assist may get in touch with Mike’s parents or his school on the following numbers: Vincent Chikuku: 0771616500, Rumbidzayi Ndovi: 0771228784 or Tendai Nyagato: 0773521979.
Online Reporter