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Man seeks help for spinal cord injury
Franco Katusabe needs to undergo surgery to repair his fractured spine, but he says he has failed to raise the required amount of money, which is about Shs15m. Photo by Stephen Okello.
What you need to know:
To help raise funds for Franco Katusabe’s operation, you can call him on You can call him on 0779492122 or Mary Goretti Aol on 0775899510
Moving from one office to another is what Franco Katusabe, a father of three, does every day. The 30-year-old has been looking for financial support to fund an operation for an injured spinal cord,to no avail.
Katusabe, a resident of Layibi Division in Gulu Municipality, says he has had the injury since 2011, after he fell from a tree.
After the accident, Katusabe was admitted to Lacor Hospital where he spent three weeks before he was transferred to Mulago National Referral Hospital.
“After the diagnosis indicated that I had a fractured spine, I was referred to Besta Diagnostic Centre in Kampala for a spinal cord surgery,” he says.
Before the operation, he underwent several tests that could cost Shs800,000, but he only managed to raise and pay Shs200, 000. As a result, he has not been given results of the tests. “I had a balance of Shs600,000 to clear so they could not give me the results, but in a verbal communication, I was told I need about Shs15m for the operation,” says Katusabe.
He believes that if he can undergo the operation now, he will be able to engage in an income generating activity to help take care of his family and education his children. Katusabe says his wife abandoned him with the children, accusing him of failing to take care of the family.
“I have children to raise, yet I am also looking for money for the operation. It is not easy especially when I am not working,” he adds.
Dr Nathan Onyach, the director Gulu Regional Referral Hospital, says spine injury comes with other complications such as failure to retain stool or urine, respiratory difficulty and formation of deep vein blood clots.
Dr Onyach says surgery is necessary to remove the fragments of bones, and fractured vertebrae that appear to be compressing the spine. He adds that after surgery, Katusabe needs to visit a physical and occupational therapist for proper rehabilitation and full recovery.
Simon Ongom, the chairperson for people with disabilities in Gulu, says when a person develops disability in adulthood like Katusabe, it becomes harder to cope with the situation. “It becomes difficult to get along with a condition with which you were not born,” says Ongom.
To help raise funds for Franco Katusabe’s operation, you can call him on You can call him on 0779492122 or Mary Goretti Aol on 0775899510.
