United by blood and blindness

Retinitis pigmentosa is a rare genetic ailment; ANNA OKON writes on this disease and its debilitating effects on three sisters and others

Rebecca Samson is 20 years old. Her face wears a happy smile because she has just gained admission into a secondary school, a feat she considered unachievable two years ago. But what would make a 20-year-old so excited about securing admission into secondary school? Rebecca is blind.

Her younger sisters are also excited. Funmi and Kemi, aged 18 and 16 respectively, are basking in the euphoria of gaining admission into the same secondary school: Adeniran Grammar School, Ogbomosho, Oyo State. And also like their eldest sister, the two girls are blind.

The Samson girls have not always been blind. Darkness crept in on them stealthily one after the other, stealing light from the three sisters between 2010 and 2013.

It started with Becky, as Rebecca is fondly called. In 2010, I had just turned 16. I was preparing to go back to school after the holidays but I had problems with my sight. I was having difficulty seeing clearly especially at night. My parents took me to a hospital, the doctor examined me and said I had cataract. I was given medication for cataract but instead of improving the situation, it became worse. I could still see faintly until one morning in 2011 when I woke up and found out to my horror that the entire place was dark. I could not see anything, Rebecca said.

The sight of his daughter going blind at such a young age was gut-wrenching for their father. He ran from pillar to post. I tried everything. I took her everywhere I knew. We visited clinic after clinic. I went to traditional medical practitioners; I spent all the little money I had. I even ran into debt.

Their going blind caused a stir in the remote neighbourhood of Ifo, Ogun State where the Samsons reside. People said all kinds of things. Some people said their mother was responsible for their blindness. At a clinic where I took them to, one doctor told me that I was too old to have children and that was the reason why my daughters were losing their sight, Mr. Samson stated.

Kolawole Samson is a driver who also engages in subsistence farming to make ends meet while his wife is a petty trader. Together, they barely make enough income to feed their family of nine. Sixty-year-old Samson thought his travails would end with Rebecca but he was mistaken. Like a scene in a horror movie, sad events began to unfold for Samson and his family at a rapid and unrelenting pace.

In 2011, while he was trying to increase his work load at the farm, doing night shifts as a security guard and taking on other odd jobs to be able to pay off his accumulated debts, he returned very late from work to find his 14-year-old daughter, Funmi, rubbing her eyes vigorously. He took a napkin, dipped it in warm water and massaged her eyes. That seemed to calm her down a bit. Samson then waited impatiently for daylight to take his daughter to the clinic.

At the clinic, Funmi was diagnosed with cataract. The news hit Samson like a bomb. His wife was no help. She could not stop weeping. Emptied of every kobo, Samson and his wife watched helplessly as sight gradually slipped away from their second daughters eyes. By 2012, Funmi was completely blind.

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United by blood and blindness