Dead Kenyan mother wanted to return home badly
Friends bow down in prayer outside the bedroom of the ailing Esther Nganga, a Kenyan living at the Woods Street Apartments in Lowell shortly before she was rushed to the Hospital where she later passed away.Pic by H.Maina, Ajabu Media |
Burial Fund Raising, Sunday, June 26, 2011 at the St. Michael’s Catholic Church, 534 Bridge Street, Lowell, MA at 2pm
By Harrison Maina, Ajabu Africa News, updated June 22, 2011
LOWELL, Mass_Barely a day before her condition rapidly deteriorated, friends of the late Esther Njenga ( wa-Hilda) of Lowell had been making frantic efforts to organize an urgent fund raiser to be held this coming Sunday, with the hope of getting enough money to full fill her wish to return to her motherland urgently after she was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer of the gall bladder about one week ago.
According to close friends, all the late Njenga (69) wanted after the grim diagnosis,(she was given an estimated life span of four months),was to return back home and get a chance to see her 2 surviving children and 3 grand children.
All her 3 grand children were born after she immigrated to the USA back in 2002 so she has never met them.
Unfortunately, their parents passed away, leaving their grandmother in America as the sole bread winner.
However, as friends gathered in her apartment on Monday to make arrangements for her trip back home, they noted that the late mother and grandmother was bed ridden and in tremendous pain.
As her condition deteriorated further, the friends decided to call an emergency crew who immediately rushed the late Njenga to the Lowell General Hospital where frantic efforts by doctors to resuscitate her failed and she was pronounced dead later in the afternoon.
The Late Esther Njenga (Wa-Hilda) of Lowell, Ma |
Unconfirmed reports indicate that the late Njenga may have suffered a massive cardiac arrest as she was being rushed to the emergency room or while doctors tried to save her life.
She leaves behind a son, a daughter and three grand children, who are all in Kenya.
A step-daughter who lives in Texas had been earlier scheduled to arrive in Boston to take care of the late Njenga.
According to friends and work mates, the late Njenga checked herself into the Lowell General hospital about 3 weeks ago after experiencing severe stomach pain.
After much testing, doctors said that she needed gall bladder surgery to remove gall bladder stones. The surgery was successfully completed and the deceased was discharged .
However, things did not seem to improve for the late Njenga and she therefore returned to the hospital for further testing.
“It was during her second return to the Hospital that doctors discovered that Esther had stage 4 gall bladder cancer”, said Asumpta Amoche, a close friend during an interview with Ajabu Africa News.
According to many of the Kenyans at Njenga's apartment on monday who are trained nurses, medical experts generally categorize stage 4 cancer as irreversible.
“The doctors estimated the lifespan for Esther to be about 4 months due to the advanced stage of the cancer”, added Amoche.
The unexpected poor prognosis seemed to have hit the late Njenga hard.
She told close friends who had made arrangements to have someone move into her apartment for support that all she wanted at that point was to go back home immediately to see her 2 surviving children, a son and daughter, and 3 grand children. The late mother and grandmother had 2 other children that were deceased.
“We were also planning to raise enough money to have someone accompany her because she did not seem to be doing very well by herself as she was in a lot of pain”, said Eunice Muiruri, a trained Nurse who was helping take care of the ailing friend in her apartment.
The late Njenga lived alone at her apartment near Drumhill in Chelmsford (next to Lowell) but a former roommate, Anna Njeri Harrington, had made arrangements to have another Kenyan lady temporarily move in to take care of the late Njenga.
She hails from Githiga village in Githunguri Division of Kiambu District in Central Kenya and immigrated to the US in 2002 where she settled in Lowell, Massachusetts.
An urgent fund raising ceremony is still scheduled to take place on Sunday, June 26 at the St. Michael’s Catholic Church in Lowell at 2pm to raise funds to transport the body of the late grandmother to her final resting place in Kenya in accordance with her desire.
Organizers said that the need has now even doubled with the unexpected death as more funds will be needed to transport the body back home than would have been needed for airfare.
“This lady was so hard working as she was the sole bread winner for her 3 grand children back in Kenya.” said Alloys Njenga, (no relation with the deceased) the Chairman of the St. Michaels Kenyan Catholic Community in Lowell.
Njenga, who was also the late mother’s supervisor at work, added that the late Njenga was so concerned with the welfare of her 3 orphaned grand children that even though she sometimes came to work in apparent pain, she kept working saying there was no other way to provide for them.
"She really had a great concern for her grandchildren. She could do anything possible on their behalf", added the Chairman.
He requested Kenyans from all walks of life to stand together at this time of great sadness and show up in large numbers to help raise enough funds to give the late Kenyan the burial she had desired during her conversation with friends shortly before she passed away, and hopefully leave something for the grand children who now have no one to provide for them..
Saint Michael’s Catholic Church is located on 534 Bridge Street, Lowell, Ma.
For more information, contact:
Alloys Njenga: 978-677-0791
Asumpta Amoche: 603-557-0164
Cecilia Macharia: 978-420-9564
Eunice Muiruri: 978-761-9281
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