Yakubu S., 11

Yakubu Shehu is an 11-year-old boy who lives with his guardian, the guardian’s wife, his grandmother, and nine other children in a three-room old cement house. His guardian is unemployed, while the household earns about ₦20,000 monthly from selling tea. The family faces significant financial hardship, with no electricity or television, and relies on others for clothing. None of the children currently attends school. Despite these challenges, Yakubu remains hopeful and dreams of becoming a healthcare professional. Yakubu presented with four weeks of painless generalized body swelling, which began around his face and progressed to his abdomen and other parts of his body. He also developed fever with chills and rigors, constipation with difficulty passing hard stools, breathlessness, blurred vision, and occasional headaches. He had no known medical condition before this illness and no reported changes in urine output or blood in his urine.

Yakubu Shehu was admitted with 4 weeks history of generalized body swelling, abdominal distension, fever, and breathlessness. On examination he was pale, in respiratory distress, with periorbital swelling, facial puffiness, ascites, and splenomegaly. Initial labs revealed severe anemia (PCV 13%), positive malaria parasite, and trace leukocytes on urinalysis., He was managed as a case of suspected kidney disease with complications. During admission he was stabilized and monitored closely.

With this timely care, Yakubu has an excellent prognosis to completely overcome these crisis, shed his painful body swelling, and reclaim a normal and healthy childhood. if left untreated Yakubu will have a high chance of developing life-threatening heart failure, brain swelling, and permanent kidney destruction caused by these three overlapping conditions and eventually death.