Family optimistic ex-officer will conquer kidney failure, prostate cancer

Kenya: James Meme’s struggle with chronic kidney failure has not only brought his family together but also fostered a career aspiration.

His daughter’s resolve to become a nurse is stronger now after days on end taking care of him after the diagnosis of the disease in March last year before he left for India to undergo a kidney transplant but was diagnosed with prostate cancer in December.

And the last five months while her father was away in India for treatment, Brenda is more certain that she wants to enroll for nursing at the Kenya Medical Training College.

“As a family, we had to adjust our meals because of dad’s diagnosis and the task his nutritional and other aspects of care fell on me,” she says.

However, she will have to wait longer until school fees is available after her father, mother and sister Ruth, who was meant to be a donor, returned home last week having exhausted Sh2.5 million on prostate cancer treatment.

The 20-year-old who sat for KCSE at Chogoria Girls High School in Meru in 2013 and scored C+ desires to become a nurse.

“Taking care of a sick person is more than giving them food. It is listening to their needs and assuring them continuously because their emotional status affects their recovery too,” Brenda says of the period she has been helping her mother take care of the family patriarch.

Her mother Catherine Meme says that though Brenda wishes to join school, their finances have been exhausted by the treatment of prostate cancer and kidney failure.

And it was a bitter-sweet moment at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Nairobi, Meme, his wife Catherine and their daughter Ruth arrived from India at 9am on Monday.

Sweet because the prolonged stay in India had kept them away from their loved ones yet bitter because they returned without the intended kidney transplant.

At their Thika home, neighbours, friends and relatives gathered on Monday afternoon to welcome the Memes despite the new developments in India. They joined in fellowship conducted by the Methodist Church on Wednesday evening at the home.

The Memes were welcomed by song and dance as their children who had been left under the care of an older relative, Carol Nyawira, ran to hug their parents whom they had not seen for five months but only spoke on phone.

Their son Derrick Mwiti, 14, broke down on seeing his father who had left in September while he was in boarding school in Meru.

 

“I had missed dad a lot because he teaches me interesting things and even took me for swimming during weekends when he was not sick,” said Derrick who reported to school on Wednesday after his father’s arrival.

Meme told The Standard on Saturday that he was overwhelmed by the kind gesture of those who turned up to welcome him and the messages of encouragement.

“True friends are those that stand with you in good and tough times like I am undergoing now,” Mr Meme told the Standard on Saturday on his return from India.

Since their departure to India five months ago, the Memes have spent Sh2.5 million for prostate cancer that was diagnosed at Apollo Hospital in India in December last year where he had been scheduled to undergo a kidney transplant.

With the new diagnosis and their pockets dry, they were forced to return home in search of more money for the kidney transplant to be carried out in coming weeks.

Following the story in The Standard on Sunday, the family received Sh 30,000 which they intend to use for the twice-weekly dialysis sessions at Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi and other treatment costs.

After his retirement as Assistant Administration Police Commandant, Eastern Province, in 2008, Meme enjoyed a healthy life despite being diagnosed with diabetes.

He had looked forward to enjoy his sunset years with his wife, children and grandchildren, away from the busy working life that had spanned over three decades.

Family members who spoke to The Standard on Saturday said that despite the new developments, they are optimistic that Meme, was is on his way to recovery. “The decision to return home was a difficult one. We sold family property to fund treatment in Kenya and in India and looking into coming days, God will sustain us,” Catherine says.

His first wife, Alice Meme is optimistic that he is on the road to recovery.

“He is an orator and we all sit and listen to his tales on life where we draw life’s lessons,” said Alice who is a farmer in Meru. She is confident that the kidney transplant will be done soon when funds are available so that Meme can recover fully and ably provide for his family.

The former officer’s sister, Jerusha, was elated to see her brother after the five month stay in India yet saddened that he has to resume dialysis twice weekly at KNH.

“We will pray and encourage each other that we will find more money because Meme is our brother and father,” she said and disclosed that the family sold cows and land to fund prostate cancer treatment in India.

Mary Karambu, Mr Meme’s youngest sister recounts the kidney failure diagnosis one year ago and hopes that he will recover fully as they look up to him as matriarch of the extended family.

 

“Over the years, we made major family decisions after consulting him because he is a witty man who takes risks that end up being gainful ventures,” Karambu said.

As Meme resumed dialysis this week, his family is optimistic that the scheduled transplant will be scheduled with the availability of funds.