The Sunday Mail
Like most siblings, rivalry dominated their early childhood life with their parents worried about how their children often had nasty fights over the pettiest of issues.
And like most parents, they took it in their stride and preached the importance of love within the family.
Now that seems like ages ago.
While Tendayi Makoni previously never verbally expressed her profound love for her sister, Mollen Nyamhotsi nee Makoni (27), she now cannot go a day without hearing or checking on her.
They are bound by a life and death battle. There’s is an inspirational story that proves once again that blood is thicker than water.
After all, they will soon share a kidney.
Mollen was healthy and had things going for her, a supportive family and good progress in her university studies.
But her life took a turn for the tragic mid-2013 when she was diagnosed with chronic glomerulonephritis, a renal disorder caused by slow, cumulative damage and scarring of the tiny blood filters in the kidneys.
The condition impedes the filtering process thereby trapping waste products in the blood and allowing blood or proteins to escape into the urine, eventually producing the characteristic signs of high blood pressure and swelling in the legs and ankles.
But Mollen, the eldest in a family of four children, never suspected any health abnormalities prior to this diagnosis, hence the absolute shock.
Despite the hot weather prevailing in Masvingo today, Mollen is constantly wrapped in a heavy blanket that her sister, Tendayi, places on her now frail body.
“I had flu here and there, went to the doctor for immunisation just like any other child. No one in my family has ever had this kind of disease,” narrates Mollen. “Even after giving birth to my son, Tanatswa, I never had any problems. Things changed in 2012, when I started going to the doctor after some swelling in my legs. I was given some non-steroid medication and after some time it seemed the pain had gone away,” she says. In July 2013 the problem resurfaced and caused Mollen’s body to swell uncontrollably. She was admitted in hospital in Mutare and doctors could not determine the cause of her condition. She was transferred to Harare, where medical experts suggested she start haemodialysis.
Even with the haemodialysis, her health kept deteriorating until she slipped into a comma in November 2013 and woke up three months later.
Her kidneys totally shut down and she urgently needed a transplant.
When the final route of a kidney transplant reached her family, Mollen’s young brother Prince offered his organ. However, doctors said the then 16-year-old boy was too young to proceed.
A sister, Nyasha, offered her kidney but she won a scholarship to study in the United States and left before the procedure could be done.
Tendayi stepped in, and she was deemed a suitable donor.
“I knew as a sister it was my duty to donate the kidney. I could feel her pain and I could not sit around and do nothing.
“What I want now is her old self. I want her to be healthy again,” says Tendayi.
Doctors still do not know the cause of Mollen’s illness, but suggest it may have been caused by Systemic Lupus Erythematous (SLE), a condition where the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks healthy tissue.
It can affect the skin, joints, kidneys, brain, and other organs.
Incidence of SLE has been growing in Africa, mostly affecting women.
For Mollen, the condition has not only put brakes on her life but has also robbed her four-year-old son of a normal childhood.
Mollen lights up to the mention of her son’s name. But she immediately feels low soon after.
“He knows I am not well. He knows he can no longer sit on my lap and neither can I play with him or walk with him around town.
“As a result, he feels more comfortable to be around his father than me. It is like his relationship with his father is getting stronger while we grow apart. He is now closer to his father than he is with me,” she says as tears well.
Mollen’s illness has hit her husband, Dickson, pretty hard. He has to deal with the financial, emotional and physical responsibilities of caring for his ill wife and their son alone.
Dickson says the haemodialysis and drugs per session cost at least US$300 at the private hospital where Mollen is being treated.
At two sessions per week since August 2013, the family has been forking out US$1 800 per month.
“I have watched my wife’s health deteriorate, and at first it bothered me a lot, knowing that I cannot do much especially, that haemodialysis is not helping her much.
“I used to cry a lot, but then I decided to be there for her and to be strong for her and my son.
“Financially, it has not been easy, it has been tough,” he says.
Haemodialysis normally costs US$50-US$150 weekly at State hospitals. But it is only available at Harare’s Parirenyatwa Hospital, Harare Central Hospital and Mpilo Hospital in Bulawayo.
At present, Zimbabwe does not have specialists in kidney transplants and patients are normally referred to India or South Africa.
“I want my health back, that’s my only wish at the moment,” Mollen says, once again fighting back tears.
Although kidney diseases lack the notoriety of heart conditions and cancer, they are among the nation’s biggest killers.
The Population Reference Bureau (2012) said 21 percent of deaths in Zimbabwe were due to non-communicable diseases, like kidney disorders.
The Zimbabwe Kidney Foundation says renal problems are silent killers. Twenty percent of kidney failure cases are hereditary, meaning the disease can be passed down from generation to generation. Mollen’s condition is not hereditary.
During our interview, Mollen noticed an article in The Sunday Mail titled “Sunday Mail, the official Pretty Xaba campaigner”.
She too needs assistance.
At least US$25 000 is needed for the transplant in India, and this includes accommodation and travel fares.
Those who can assist, please make use of the following details:
Account Name: FACT Rusape;
Bank: Standard Chartered
Branch: Rusape
Account Number: 8700271510500
Branch Code: 5561
Swift Code: SCBLZWHX
Bank Address: 20 Robert Mugabe Street, Rusape Zimbabwe
OR
Account Name: Makoni Mollen
Bank: Standard Chartered
Account Number: 8700271942400
Branch Code: 5561
Swift Code: SCBLZWHX
