After registering impressive results in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE), all Edgar Getugi could wish for was to join a medical school.
However, his dream of becoming a doctor has become uncertain after the first-year student at Kisii University was forced to drop out of school after he developed a rare eye condition called Keratoconus.
In a TV interview on Saturday, November 13, the 18-year-old who scored an A in the 2020 KCSE exams narrated how he struggled in medical school because he could not clearly see. He added that his condition affected his performance in school.
"I could not see what the teachers were writing on the blackboard so I used to depend on the dictations from the teachers and notes written by my classmates," the medical student narrated.
Getugi also revealed that he is forced to hold books very close to his eyes and often had do follow-ups of the classes he attended.
"For the notes that I could not write, I used to go to the library to do more studies," Getugi stated.
While explaining the condition, Dr Dan Kiage, an optician at Kisii Eye Hospital, disclosed that Getugi's eye condition is a rare eye condition that is only treatable through surgery.
"Instead of having a nice smooth covering like this (pointing at an eyeball), it becomes like a corn protruding forward and that disrupts vision. For Getugi he has developed the Keratoconus in both eyes," the doctor explained.
On his part, Getugis father, Rodger Getugi, expressed how the eye condition has caused pain to him and his entire family. He went ahead to state that his son developed the eye condition while still in grade three.
Getugi's father also revealed that since dropping out of school, his son has been under duress wondering when he will go back to school to pursue his dream of becoming a doctor.
"I have hopes that my son will get treatment and get well so that next year he can join the rest in school. Right now he is under duress because his friends are continuing with their education and he is staying at home," the father stated.
In order to correct Getugi’s medical condition, the family hopes to raise Ksh 600,000 which will enable doctors to perform an eye transplant on the 18-year-old.
