Teen’s battle with brittle bone disease

PHOTO | JEFF ANGOTE Mr Stephen Mwangi who suffers from orthopaedic and trauma at the KNH, Nairobi.  NATION MEDIA GROUP

In Summary

• 19-year-old has suffered nine fractures and is now in hospital with two broken hip joints
• Since he was 14, Mwangi has sustained nine fractures, leading to an equal number of operations in which surgeons fixed metal plates on his fragile bones.

By FRED MUKINDA
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One could easily mistake Stephen Njoroge Mwangi for a Class Four pupil, possibly 10 years old, just by looking at his small body frame.

It’s only when he starts to speak, in deep voice declaring that he is 19 years old, that one comes to terms with his age.

His is a story of a young man living with a rare disease that weakens the bones so much that even an ordinary walk can cause multiple fractures.

Since he was 14, Mwangi has sustained nine fractures, leading to an equal number of operations in which surgeons fixed metal plates on his fragile bones.

Now, he is bed-ridden in the orthopedic ward at Kenyatta National Hospital, Nairobi, after sustaining fractures last month.

 

And no, he was not involved in an accident; the fractures just happened.

Doctors call the disease Osteogenesis Imperfecta and have other scientific words to explain Mwangi’s condition.

His doctor, James Mogire, explained the condition in simpler terms: “Like concrete pillars in a house, we have the bones. The bones are woven with proteins and the spaces in between are filled with minerals, just like sand and cement in concrete. In this case, the protein component is not strong enough and so it snaps.”

“Not that he is poorly fed. Stephen was born with this condition, which is a genetic disorder. The patient will live with it for life.”

In the past, the doctors at KNH coped well with Mwangi’s condition but the most recent fractures have presented a big challenge. The fractures are on the hip joints on both legs.

Already, Mwangi has metal plates fixed on both thigh bones.

Dr Mogire said: “Now we need something special for him. We require expensive implants. They must be custom-made and we do not manufacture them here (Kenya).”

He estimated that at least, the patient needs between Sh400,000 and Sh500,000 to restore just one hip.

Mwangi comes from a family of seven children and his widowed mother, Ms Wambui Njoroge, described herself as “a peasant farmer without a regular income”.

“I do not want to be here,” Mwangi said of his condition when the Nation team visited him in hospital. “I would like to be school. This condition is not good. It’s not anybody’s wish to break a leg. It can happen to anybody.”

His mother said Mwangi was the only one in the family with the condition. All his siblings, including a set of triplets, are all fine.