Help! My left eye is going blind

Oct 01, 2013

If you have studied at Makerere University, you certainly know Rev. Benoni Mugarura aka uncle Ben. The celebrated former Chaplain of St Francis Chapel has been diagnosed with a serious condition in the carotid artery that needs to be operated upon as soon as possible.

If you have studied at Makerere University, you certainly know Rev. Benoni Mugarura aka uncle Ben. The celebrated former Chaplain of St Francis Chapel has been diagnosed with a serious condition in the carotid artery that needs to be operated upon as soon as possible. He shared his story with Carol Natukunda
 
There comes a time when one has to face challenges from the physical body. And this time around, it is my turn. In February this year, I woke up one morning as usual to prepare for my day.
 
I bent down to pick up something and stood up as usual, only to realise that my left eye could not see properly. I got concerned but decided not to let it tear me apart because it lasted a few seconds anyway and the eye was seeing clearly again shortly after.  
 
However, by June this year, it had become more frequent. When I would bend, the eye would not only go blind, but I would also feel some strange sensation in my head. The anxiety set in when one morning in July I woke up and could not see through the left eye. I rushed to the cardiologist, Dr. Peter Lwabi, to find out what was going wrong.  
 
That day, I drove myself from my home in Wakiso and when I reached Kalerwe near the Northern Bypass, my eye got ‘blind’ again.
 
It was like there was a shadow in my eye. I could not see anything, no matter how wide I opened it. It was like when you are in darkness and you cannot see anything. Driving slowly, I was able to steer by the rail using my right eye.
 
Had it affected my right eye, I would not have managed. By the time I reached Kubiri roundabout, my eye had cleared again.
 
I proceeded to Mulago Hospital. Following several tests and scans, Dr. Lwabi came out with the diagnosis that there was a plaque in my carotid artery on the left side of my neck. He first gave me medication but it was not helping.
 
I was told that a piece of  plaque or a blood clot also can break away from the plaque and travel through the bloodstream and get stuck in one of the brain’s smaller arteries. This can block blood flow in the artery and cause a stroke.
 
I do not know whether the condition has anything to do with an earlier bout of dizziness I suffered in the 1990s. At the time however, doctors attributed it to the pressure that comes with work. They also suspected I was not drinking enough water.
 
So when this incident first occurred in February, I quickly thought I needed to drink a lot of water again. But I was wrong. 
 
Although I have this condition, I am hesitant to call myself sick or to lie on my bed all day. It does not often come when I am seated. I am in retirement, my wife and I are devoting time to young people and helping construct the Joy Centre.
 
I can drive myself to town, but a lot of the times, I have to guard against bending.  For instance, if I am seated and I feel my shoe is loose, I will call someone to help me put it back on. If a pen falls down, someone has to pick it up for me. 
 
Financially strained
 
After consultations with a senior consultant doctor, it was decided that I will need a carotid endarterectomy (operation), which has to be done in Bangalore, India next month.
 
It cannot be done in Uganda. But I am financially constrained and time is running out. We aim at raising $13,500 to possibly cover the air ticket, the hospital bills and other expenses.  

Conmen
Sadly, even as we try to fundraise through friends and well-wishers, we get surprises by the day. One such surprise was someone who conned us from my own house on Monday. It was a gentleman who came to visit us.
 
He said he had seen me at St. Francis earlier that morning (which was true). He said I had presided over his wedding and that he had earlier studied at Makerere University. He prayed with us before telling us he wanted to donate some money, but that he had dollars.
 
So he gave $100 so we could deduct the amount he was contributing to us and give him the balance of $90. We decided to give him his change in shillings. I had some money in the house because someone had earlier come to our house and left sh500,000.
 
Later when I decided to send this “good Samaritan” a thank you email, the email bounced back. When I tried calling him, the number was not available on the network. My wife, Joy and I critically looked at the dollars bills only to find they were fake, yet he had gone away with our money!
 
How he got to know where I live, and how he traced my home remains a  mystery to me. It is amazing he even prayed with us and we praised God together, yet he was up to something. 
 
There will be a fundraising concert on October 4 at City Ville, Bukoto, 6pm.
 
Wife Joy speaks out
It is definitely a time when you have so much anxiety as a family.  You are worried, because anything worse like a stroke could happen.  The fundraising has not been easy.
 
It is even traumatizing when you think of the operation because you don’t know what will be done.  But God continues to strengthen us. 
 
Fundraising drive
This 4th October, DJ Twonjex and several musicians from Kampala will stage a fundraising concert at City Ville Bukoto starting at 6pm. Meanwhile, a committee of supporters has been established to manage the raising of funds on his behalf.
 
For contributions, contact on 0772-521404 and 0772-530138 for further details. Let’s join hands to save Uncle Ben.
 
Uncle Ben, a man of the people 
A father of five children, Uncle Ben has been serving in the church ministry for over four decades. In 1966, he went to Bishop Tucker Theological College, Mukono for a diploma in theology.  On his graduation, Uncle Ben was not ordained with his colleagues.
 
“The excuse was that there was no parish I would be posted to “literally rejecting me,” he told Sunday Vision in a 2007 interview.
 
During this time, Church of Uganda Province Youth Department offered him a job as a provincial youth trainer, to teach the youth in the country to learn how to survive in the countryside. 
 
On what was to be his first day in office, he walked down the aisle with his high school sweetheart, Joy Topher on January 1, 1972 at St Peter’s Cathedral Rugarama in Kabale. In 1975, he went for further studies to Western Ontario in Canada. 
 
In 1977, uncle Ben was awarded a Bachelor’s degree in Theology, but remained in Canada as a refugee due to insecurity back in Uganda
 
At  St. Catherine in Toronto, a position was created for him as assistant curator to help support his family, where he worked for two and half years. He later graduated with a masters in Theology in 1981. 
 
After the fall of Amin, the Mugaruras were invited to return home. On arrival, Uncle Ben was posted as youth chaplain in secondary schools across the country.
 
This posting resulted into the National Youth Convention in 1983 in Gayaza, that sought to hear the voices of the young people. A number of issues that shape today’s church trace their origin to this convention. 
 
The Anglican Youth Fellowship was founded and there was renewal in worship. The choir of the African Youth Fellowship was also formed in 1984 and there was a call to transform the youth ministry to respond to the social needs of the youth. 
 
 In 1988, Archbishop Yona Okoth transferred uncle Ben to St Francis, Makerere University, a church then riddled with conflict between the clergy and the people and people against each other. For 19 years, this was his home. 
 
At Makerere University, he founded Come Alive, a non-denominational club of S4 students on vacation.  Under his tenure, he is credited for his leadership and fundraising skills to build the sh510m St. Francis Community Hall.
 
Since his retirement five years ago, uncle Ben lives a low profile at his home in Wakiso district. Together with his wife Joy, the couple has established the Joy Centre, to equip children with life and leadership skills among others. 
 
“When you retire from your workplace, it does not mean you have retired from your whole life,” he says. 
  
Plaque in catotid artery
If a plaque builds up in the arteries that supply blood to your heart, the blood flow slows or stops. This decreases the amount of oxygen that gets to the heart, which can lead to a heart attack. 
 
But doctors have now found that even though some heart attacks are caused by a plaque itself, sometimes an inflamed part of an artery can burst due to the plaque. This can lead to the formation of a blood clot, which can lead to heart attack.
 
Scientists think the disease starts when the very inner lining of the artery (the endothelium) is damaged.
 
High blood pressure and high levels of cholesterol (fat) in the blood, are believed to lead to the development of plaque.
 
This slow disease process can begin in childhood. In some people, the condition can cause symptoms by the time they reach their 30s. In others, they do not have symptoms until they reach their 50s or 60s.
 
But, as the blockage gets worse, there is slowed blood supply. This has to be rectified through surgery. Doctors recommend fat-lowering mechanisms such as proper diet, and exercise as some of the prevention methods.
  
 
To help uncle Ben, contact 0772-521404 and 0772-530138 for further details.

 

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