HOLDING ON, SURVIVNG HELL

I will like to first of all express my immense gratitude to this community. After my story was posted here about the hell I’ve been going through, a number of people came through for me. There were those who sent me money and those who called with words of encouragement and advice on how to pursue my travel plans. Someone all the way from Lagos even sent a hefty package of medication and provisions to help with my sickle cell ailment and the hunger that plagues me in the absence of any care, concern and nourishment from my own family.

I am very, deeply grateful to you all. There is love in this community and I have felt it.

The response regarding my visa is still afar off in May, and in the meantime, I am holding on and surviving hell. I am still very much in need of help and living everyday with a struggle to make it through because of the promise that I will one day get out of this place, this hell, away from these people.

My major problem is my sickle cell crisis. I am frequently plagued by crises, having to admit myself into the hospital with each attack. The constancy of these crises had me burning through the financial aid I got from this community; the last attack I suffered, I was only able to get admitted after making a deposit with the money a friend was able to eke out for me. Same thing went for when I was discharged and had to pay the hospital bill.

I am solely on my own with my fragile healthcare, with absolutely no help from my parents. So, it’s a struggle.

My parents no longer treat me as their son, and when they deign to give me their attention, it is to scorn, berate and deride me. Some weeks ago, I had to ask Pink Panther to take down my story detailing my ordeal, because I’d just learned that my parents were Googling my name to find out any information associated with me out there on the internet. I was once kidnapped a few years ago, and that was the first Google result they found; it was when my mother called me to rehash their anger over the inconvenience I caused them when I allowed myself to be kidnapped, that I realized that they were Googling me. So, in panic, I reached out to Pink Panther and he had to make private my story so the public wouldn’t be able to view it for awhile.

My sisters have also started taking after my parents, with absolutely no empathy or compassion for me, their brother.

And on top of all that, I also struggle to get what to eat. My mother’s cooking no longer includes me, her first child. I am not welcome to her kitchen or to dine with them. I scrounge, eating what I can wherever I can get it. Predictably, I have developed ulcer and have to take medications for that too.

I did try to fend for myself by applying for jobs, but my efforts have been to no avail.

The only thing that has me holding on is my hope of traveling out and away from these people. I have been praying for the visa response to be positive, even while I am equally plagued with fear that it may not work out.

But I pray. And I hope. Because I have nothing else to keep me living through this hell.

Written by Michael

EDITOR’S NOTE:

Hello, guys. Again, I am reaching out and beseeching anyone who can to please help this young man in whatever way they can.

His account information remains the same:

GTBANK, 0165939569

(Part of his account name is Michael. I am not attaching the rest of his names because we don’t know if we’ll be lucky enough to know the next time his parents will decide to Google his name.)

And if anyone wants to get connected to him to extend more personal assistance or any further acts of generosity to him, you may email me so I can connect you to him.

Thank you.