BN Community Centre: 24 Year Old Ex-Beauty Queen with Brain Cancer

In March 2013, the BellaNaija team asked for your feedback on how to handle the issue of the emails we receive with regards soliciting for financial aid {Click here to read}. We were grateful for your feedback. Over the years, BellaNaija has published various feature stories on Nigerians in difficult situations and we are thankful that our BN Fam has supported in full force. From the man who was wrongly imprisoned for over a decade to and the struggling father suddenly saddled with major financial obligations due to the birth of his triplets.

During this time, we worked to get as much information as we could about different situations that was sent to us. In many cases, the people sending the emails don’t come back to us when we ask for more information. Sometimes they do and we are sceptical about the information given to us and as such we are unable to publish these stories. We will continue to publish these stories, however, we realize this is not enough.

While we are very concerned about the integrity of our brand and are conscious of the fact that there are too many fraudsters out there, we are definitely aware of the major challenges people go through every day.

We all know how difficult it is to raise money, even amongst the most ‘comfortable’ people. While many save for a rainy day or have health insurance, most cannot afford to set aside a contingency sum for sudden major illnesses.

In view of this, BellaNaija launched the BN Community Centre. This online platform will feature “calls for help” as submitted to us. This includes information, photos and account numbers. We are, however, stating categorically that we are doing only basic fact checking, therefore, we will not be held liable in ANY circumstance.

We encourage you to give if you can, however, please ensure you perform independent verification prior to donating any funds.

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Stephanie’s sister sent us an email telling us about her sister. We’re pasting an excerpt of her email as well as an excerpt of the Stephanie’s profile on GoFund Me.

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Unfortunately we had to postpone planning for a wedding because my sister became seriously ill diagnosed the brain cancer, and I couldn’t imagine having my wedding without her. You can find her story here, www.gofundme.com/stephnwaneri . She is currently in recovery after several surgeries to remove the brain tumor. Projecting that she will be able to walk down the aisle as my maid of honor next summer.

Stephine Nwaneri, a 24 year old graduate of the University of Missouri working as a medical professional was preparing to apply to Physician Assistant school when she began to feel changes in her body. She developed weakness in her left eye leading to double vision, and slight weakness on her right side causing her to limp and limiting her use of her right hand. Worried, she consulted with her physician and was scheduled for an MRI of her brain. On October 16th 2014, Stephine was diagnosed with a brain tumor on a very delicate portion of her brain called the brainstem.

As the brainstem controls many vital functions necessary for life like swallowing, breathing, and heart rate, Stephine was told surgery to remove brainstem tumors are often not preformed as they are very risky and could potentially leave an individual in a vegetative state. However, after consulting with a neurosurgeon Stephine and her family decided to go along with an attempt at surgery to remove the tumor. They felt that surgery in fact provided Stephine her best chance at living a healthy life again.

On October 23rd, 2014 Stephine went under the knife, and after 10 hours in the OR. Her surgeon proclaimed that they had successfrully removed most of the tumor. After surgery, Stephine unable to breath on her own was left with a breathing tube. 5 days later and 3 failed attempts at removing the breathing tube, Stephine’s doctors decided to perform another procedure on her called a tracheostomy, where a hole is made in one’s neck to better assist with breathing. And a week after surgery Stephine was finally given a diagnosis of Choroid Plexus Carcinoma, a very rare brain cancer.

Stephine continues to fight for her life and is getting stronger every day. On Thursday Nov 13th, 2014, Stephine was finally moved out of the ICU, however still in the hospital, she is now in more stable condition. Stephine has begun working with speech, occupational, and physical therapist to help her regain her strength and function. Once Stephine is strong enough she will begin chemo and radiation therapy to ensure all cancerous cells are taken care of.

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Help to save Stephanie’s life. Please visit the GoFundMe page set up for her.