Joe Mudikiza, a man who has been living with sickle cell anaemia for 28 years is seeking help from doctors to help him end his life professionally.
The term used for this procedure is Euthanasia and in Kenya, the procedure is illegal and its a crime for doctors to perform it on patients.
Joe who is the second born in a family of five siblings has seen it all. From bullying in school to being called names and branded as a devil worshipper for being in pain, his peers even avoided him out of fear.
“When i was in high school, that’s when i was told that i had sickle cell. Most of the time everybody was avoiding me. Because they did not understand what it was and what I was going through.”
“Whenever I was in pain, everyone will move away. There will be romours that I am a devil worshipper or I am in a cult to be the reason why I was suffering. But i I got used to it.”
He however beat all the odds to become an English Literature teacher but because of his condition, he decided to quit for being unable to stand in class for long.
However, the condition worsened last year in April when the doctors told him that two of his veins have collapsed and they can’t access any of his peripheral veins to inject medication which made him weak.
The pain and suffering due to sickle cell anaemia has forced Joe Mudikiza to consider Euthanasia, a process where doctors use painless method to put to death a person suffering from a painful incurable disease.
Joe has been thinking about voluntary euthanasia for the past five months and he is considering the option to get the peace from all that he is going through.
“I have been thinking and considering this for the past five months. I have thought about it even when I’m not in pain. I just want to do it to get my peace.”
According to Joe, his dad died of cancer and after seeing him suffer in his last days, he doesn’t want to reach at that point and that’s why he is considering Euthanasia.
Joe is now in the process of getting a VISA to travel to Belgium where the procedure will be undertaken by Belgium doctors due to the nature of illegality of Euthanasia in Kenya