Akua Adoma Memorial Hope Foundation to raise brain tumor awareness in Ghana
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| Akua; extreme right, with friends at school in Ghana |
The family of the deceased Akua Adoma Ofori, a female Ghanaian teenage student who was flown to the USA to seek medical treatment for a tumor lodged in her brain has established a foundation; The Akua Adoma Memorial Hope Foundation, in her memory.
The sole objective of the foundation will be to provide medical assistance to young children in need of critical surgery from complications in the brain. Akua passed away on July 24 2011, in Pennsylvania (PA) USA.
According to Akua’s brother; Kwame Asante Ofori, his sister underwent successful surgery in Pennsylvania’s York Hospital after friends and other well-wishers embarked on a fundraising effort to obtain money for her surgery. A year after Akua’s passing, members of her family, friends, and well-wishers both in Ghana and the USA decided to establish The Akua Adoma Memorial Hope Foundation. The Foundation is going to be a permanent representation of what Adoma stood for, which was her strength and zeal to hang on to life in spite of her difficult ailment.
In an interview on a local Ghanaian TV, the mother of the deceased said the foundation in conjunction with other NGO’s and benevolent organizations and individuals will seek to provide help to children in need of dire medical attention but can not afford the costs involved.
Akua’s mother; Juliana Ofori, made a passionate plea to the government of Ghana to get involved with the work of the foundation by helping to create more awareness about the dangers of brain tumors and to also help raise funds for the provision of the necessary facilities that the country’s health institutions need to detect such complicate diagnosis as tumors in the brain.
Akua’s mother was thankful to all those who helped in diverse ways to fly her late daughter to the United States for treatment and specifically mentioned the York Hospital in Pennsylvania and the Casa Corazone, an organization that helps to bring Latin American children who are in critical need of surgery to the USA for treatment. She was impressed by the fact that Casa Corazone decided to make an exception in her late daughter’s case by making her one of the very few children they brought into the USA that was not from Southern America.
Kwame Asante Ofori, was so full of gratitude towards fellow students and tutors of the Bucknell University, members of the Ghanaian community in the USA especially in Pennsylvania, who helped in diverse ways to make sure Adoma received the best of everything while she was living her last days. The family was also grateful for prayers and support received from various high schools, especially the Achimota High School which is Adoma’s Alma Matar.
“We want to make sure that in the future, children who are facing similar medical conditions like Adoma did do not end up dying for lack of treatment, facilities or financial capability” says the late Akua’s mother; Juliana Ofori as he tried to explain the reason behind the establishment of The Akua Adoma Memorial Hope Foundation. Find out more about this foundation on Facebook.
Adoma was laid to rest at the Osu cemetery located inside Ghana’s capital city of Accra. Prior to that, her funeral service was held at the International Central Gospel Church at Abossey Okai, also in Accra, Ghana. Both events occurred on August 19, 2011.
Source: Oral Ofori
