Miracle for twin who lost genitals to dog

That taxi meeting with Oliver Kaliyo Nalongo and her twins has yielded a miraculous healing of no ordinary kind.

The chance meeting between a mother and a journalist sparked off a campaign that has culminated in a sort of resurrection; Wasswa underwent penile reconstruction. The saving operation was carried out on December 18, last year at Mulago Hospital. This how it started. 

We do not meet people by accident; they are meant to cross our path for a reason.

When I boarded a taxi from the New Vision head office in Kampala, little did I know that I would meet a mother of twins, Oliver Nalongo Kaliyo, and this would result in a successful crusade that would lead to surgery for her son.

As I sat next to Kaliyo, one of the twins was resting on her lap looking sickly, while the other sat eating cake.

Due to traffic jam, we spent an hour for a journey meant to last 10 minutes. That gave me chance to interact with the mother of the twins. Being a twin myself, the urge to associate is always natural.

Terrifying incident

Kaliyo narrated the horrific story of a dog that bit off the genitals off one of her sons, Darius Wasswa, the one she was carrying on her lap. 

Kaliyo said on the fateful day, she delayed to clean up the baby after he had eased himself. The dog started licking the human waste and in the process bit off his genitals.

For me, it was the second time I was coming across a child who had lost genitals.

Twins festival

Three days later, I visited Kaliyo at Mengo-Kisenyi, in Kampala for the whole story. When it was published in Saturday Vision, Kaliyo received financial support from the public. 

But it was not enough to cater for Wasswa's medication, considering the surgeries he needed.

This was close to the sixth Kampala Twins festival last year. The festival is an event organised by Vision Group to celebrate twins in Uganda. 

I was aware that Vision Group was hosting it in partnership with Pepsi Cola, Post Bank and the Parliament of Uganda, so I told Kaliyo to come with the twins to Namboole Stadium for the event.

Kadaga's intervention

While hundreds of twins enjoyed the day, I was desperately planning on how to attract the attention of the Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga, who was the guest of honour.

I spoke to her aide to fix me an appointment, but my request was rejected because I was not on the Speaker's programme.

I did not give up. When the twin's parade, which is the climax of the festival, came up, I rushed to the podium where the Speaker was and knelt before her, pleading for a minute.

Kadaga had stood up to go and lead the procession, but she sat down to listen to me.

In about one minute, I informed her that in our midst was Wasswa, the boy whose genitals had been bitten off by a dog.

I told her that Wasswa needed protracted medication and several surgeries, but his mother was financially handicapped.

Kadaga, touched by the story, stopped the parade, took hold of the microphone and declared to the audience: "Sorry for abruptly bringing the parade to a halt, but it is absolutely necessary. Shockingly, I have learnt of the plight of one of our twins. In our midst is a twin whose genitals were bitten off during a dog attack and he requires immediate intervention," she said.

Apparently, the Speaker had also seen my story in the Saturday Vision. 

"Using the Parliament fund to support people, I pledge to help Wasswa's condition. I will work with the President to ensure that Wasswa gets the treatment he deserves," she said.

That was the beginning of Kadaga's crusade of fundraising from Parliament to foot the cost of Wasswa's reconstructive surgery.

As instructed by the Speaker, I followed up the matter with Dr Frank Asiimwe, a consultant urologist and head of the urology department at Mulago Hospital.

The surgery

Last year on December 17, Wasswa was admitted at Mulago and a penile reconstruction was done the following day.

Asiimwe, who carried out the one-hour surgery, explained that the first stage was to diagnose and confirm the extent of the injury.

"Usually when the penis is cut off, the remaining tissue retracts and the place gets covered by skin. So, we have what we call a buried penis," Asiimwe said.

"During the operation, we discovered that the dog had only taken away the head of the penis. What is referred to as glans and most of the skin. Since the skin is tight, it pulls the remaining part underneath, so we brought it out and reconstructed the skin to cover the new shaft," he explained.

Doctor's analysis on future surgery

Medics say Wasswa will still need subsequent corrective procedures, depending on how the skin would heal.

Dr Frank Asiimwe, a consultant urologist and head of the urology department at Mulago Hospital, said the skin sometimes forms scars which can retract and pull the shaft further.

"But the biggest part of the reconstruction will take place when Wasswa comes into puberty because that is when the hormones kick in and the penis begins to grow in size and length," Asiimwe explained.

He added that the other part they were concerned about is the mytus (the opening where urine passes).

"Because the normal mytus was removed, the new tissue tends to contract. So, we have to keep an eye on that to see how it is behaving. Surgeons basically put things together; we do not dictate how they heal. The healing process causes a scar, which can be minimal, large or extensive," Asiimwe explained.

He noted that the other area of concern were the testicles.

"Our initial examination did not seem to reveal that the testicles had descended into the scrotum.

We initially did ultra sound, now we need to do an MRI to confirm whether they descended or not. We shall deal with the situation depending on what we find," he said. Asked whether there was possibility of Wasswa having a normal marital life, Asiimwe said the chances were high.

"After puberty, he will need another surgery that involves re-constructing his penis. The technology and the skill to have this boy's function restored is available in the country. We cannot promise to return what the dog ate, but we can reconstruct what can function and allow Wasswa to have children," he said.

The immediate concern was to enable Wasswa pass urine normally. Reproduction will come late and shall include penis reconstruction.