It was on the 6th of April 2021 when Mr. Adim Augustine was rolled into G.O.P.D on a wheelchair as an emergency case in the General Hospital Calabar. He was unable to walk or lift his lower limbs, even as he was accompanied by his family members.

According to his wife, Mrs. Rita Augustine, she said the husband was bedridden for some weeks now and could not fend for the family because of his inability to walk on his own and every treatment they had given him locally proved abortive, hence their decision to seek medical treatment.  When our Cough Screening Officer at the G.O.P.D, Fortune Ebuara, screened him for T.B, the patient said he was not coughing but he admitted to having fever for more than two weeks, loss of weight, loss of appetite, and backache (at the spine region).

The afore mentioned description of the symptoms by the patient gave our C.S.O the idea that the patient could be suffering from Extra Pulmonary TB of the spine. He, therefore, fast-track him to see the clinician for further examination and clinical diagnosis having seen the symptoms. The patient was admitted and after much laboratory investigation and several scans and Xray were conducted, he was afterward diagnosed clinically by the clinician with the TB of the spine. The clinician immediately called the attention of the C.S.O and recommended the patient to be taken (wheeled) to the DOTS unit to commence TB treatment. The patient was placed on treatment the same day being the 9th April 2021. His treatment was to last for twelve months (1 year).

After being on the drug for about two to three months, he was able to start walking on his own while other symptoms disappeared. We were amazed to see him coming on his own (walking on both feet) to get his drugs on the 15th of September 2021. He was full of life and excitement, thanking us for placing him on the TB drug which according to his words:

“The drug that brought me back to life.”