For 14 years, 55-year-old Lilian Mawuse has balanced lesson plans with life-sustaining dialysis, navigating the demands of teaching while managing a chronic kidney condition that requires treatment several times a week.
A Home Economics teacher at Kwabenya Community Senior High School, Mawuse says the physical and financial strain of treatment has intensified since her husband retired, ending medical support previously covered by his employer, Telecel Ghana. She is now appealing for public assistance, asking donors to support her and other kidney patients struggling to afford care.
“I have been on dialysis for 14 years now. It has not been easy,” she said, explaining that she often travels to hospital three or four times weekly while still trying to maintain her teaching duties. “Sometimes you finish dialysis feeling dizzy, but the next morning you must report to school.”
Her condition has forced her to occasionally miss classes for laboratory tests or treatment sessions, affecting both her health and her work routine. Despite the challenges, she continues teaching, saying her profession gives her purpose.
Mawuse’s medical journey began years before her diagnosis, following a miscarriage in 1999 that she describes as a turning point in her life. Since then, she has lived with the realities of kidney disease, including fatigue, nausea and the constant uncertainty that accompanies long-term treatment.
She credits National Health Insurance Scheme in Ghana for easing some of the financial burden in recent years, but says dialysis, medication and laboratory tests remain costly. Without consistent support, she notes, many patients are unable to sustain treatment.
Her youngest daughter recalls growing up afraid she might lose her mother after learning that kidney failure can be fatal. The experience, she said, was frightening but also deepened her understanding of her mother’s resilience.
Mawuse is urging individuals, organisations and charities to assist kidney patients who cannot afford life-saving care, stressing that her appeal extends beyond her personal needs. “It is not just me,” she said. “Some patients here are not working at all and depend entirely on others.”
Donations to support her treatment can be sent via Telecel Cash to 0207321854, registered to Lilian Mawuse. She says any contribution could help sustain dialysis, laboratory tests or, ultimately, a transplant and offer hope to patients facing similar struggles.
Watch video: