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African Airman returns home, helps save life

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Denise Johnson
  • Joint Task Force-Nomad Fire Public Affairs
ACCRA, Ghana (AFPN) --  Nine-year-old Alex Vadis Teye has a skull twice the size of a normal child his age and it's still growing. Water consumes 80 percent of the space where his brain should be. His prognosis was bleak.

"Was" is the key word, thanks to the efforts of a heating, ventilation and air conditioning technician deployed with Joint Task Force-Nomad Fire, who happens to also be a native African.

Staff Sgt. Hodonou Mitokpe is one of a group of U.S. armed forces members here as part of the joint task force that provided security, infrastructure, aircraft and personnel for President George Bush's five-nation visit Feb. 16 to 21. For Sergeant Mitokpe, it was an opportunity to return to the continent for the first time in 10 years.

The Airman, originally from Togo, the country bordering eastern Ghana, left his homeland at the age of 18 when he won a visa lottery there. He said good-bye to his family, and immigrated to the United States. This deployment offered him his first opportunity to return to the continent.

As Sergeant Motepke took in the sights and sounds of Ghana, which reminded him very much of his childhood home, he noticed a newspaper article asking for assistance to help pay for young Alex's surgery. The NCO wasted no time in taking action.

"I know what it's like to be in his shoes," the sergeant said. "When I was growing up, we didn't have that kind of money lying around."

The article asked for about $2,500 worth of Ghanaian currency on behalf of the child's family. The amount would cover the full cost of the operation.

After determining the validity of the article by contacting the hospital and Alex's sister, Sergeant Motepke went to work.

"I had faith in my colleagues and the Air Force," he said. "I knew we could help this boy."

JTF-Nomad Fire members pooled enough money to cover the cost of the surgery plus an additional $161 to help cover the cost of taxis and incidentals.

"Everyone stepped up to make this a success. It never would have happened without the people I'm working with here," Sergeant Motepke said.

Alex lives in the eastern region of Ghana and has to travel quite a distance to get to Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, where he will be taken care of by Dr. Pat Bankah, the head of the neurosurgery department.

"I perform two of these surgeries a week, on average," Dr. Bankah said.

Alex suffers from hydrocephalus, a condition where water (cerebral fluid) builds up in the brain due to a blockage. The procedure will involve placing a tube (or shunt) from Alex's brain that will extend down his neck, across his chest, and eventually empty into the abdomen. The water has built up within the brain, compressing the brain against the walls of the skull. The water continues to build pressure as the volume increases which does not allow for any growth and causes the skull to expand.

There are various reasons for the condition, Dr. Bankah said. It could be from meningitis, brain injury or an infection. In some cases the brain's drain system is too narrow to handle the passage of fluid. Sometimes, people just produce too much cerebral fluid.

"It is usually congenital and unfortunately, not uncommon," the neurosurgeon said.
According to the National Hydrocephalus Foundation Web site, one out of every 500 births in the U.S. results in hydrocephalus. The shunting procedures account for $100 million health-care spending in the U.S., making this one of the most common birth defects.

"The defect is usually detected during prenatal screening in the U.S. before any physical abnormalities occur," said U.S. Army Capt. Peter Henning, the Joint Task Force-Nomad Fire (West) Primary Care Team lead.

Alex has had the condition since he was an infant, so Dr. Bankah said this is very late to intervene.

"This can be detected and treated at an early age. But, people are ignorant about the problem, and they often are very poor," he said. "Many people try and hide the children, or do not know where or how to seek help."

It was a happy coincident that Sergeant Mitokpe's return and the article just happened to coincide.

"I saw this article and wanted to give this boy the same opportunity a child in America would have," Sergeant Mitokpe said. "America is the land of opportunity, and now, I can pass that opportunity on to a child here."

For Sergeant Mitokpe's family, the opportunity to drive to Accra to welcome him home was a blessing. To see him take on such a selfless cause was something they would expect from him, they said.

"We are so proud of him," said Christine Fifame Mitokpe, Sergeant Mitokpe's younger sister. "We are happy to see he still believes in God, like our mother taught him."

Clement Mitokpe, Sergeant Mitokpe's older brother, said, "This doesn't surprise me at all. When (he) was a young boy he used to take food from his house to give to his friends."

Clement left Sergeant Mitokpe's house to go live with his father when the boys were young, but he said (his younger brother) always came to visit him.

"He always asked his mother if he could come visit me. I would carry him on my shoulders and take him for rides on a motorbike," Clement reminisced. "He would give me his lunch money and share his food with me. My brother always had a strong belief that when you help others, they will help you."

The older brother recalled the time when Sergeant Mitokpe received news that his father was very ill. He had not been in the U.S. long and had yet to join the Air Force.

"He sent all his money home to help his father, and hoped he would get another paycheck soon," Clement explained. "And then, he fell ill and had no money for the doctor."

Clement said Sergeant Mitokpe went to church to pray for relief from the infection in his tooth. He suffered for several days and was in a lot of pain.

"A lady saw him in church and knew him to be a good boy," Clement continued. "She took him to the doctor and paid for his care."

Ironically, Clement said Sergeant Mitokpe's medical care cost about $2,000, nearly the same cost as Alex's life-saving surgery.

Sergeant Mitokpe handed the money to Alex in a small presentation at the Korle Bu Cardio Center conference room Feb. 23.

"On behalf of the joint task force, I present you with this money in the hope you will feel better one day. May God bless you, Alex," Sergeant Mitokpe said as he placed a kiss on Alex's forehead and handed him the money.

"My father told me I am a representative of Africa," Sergeant Mitokpe said. "Since I couldn't see them in person (all these years), the next best thing I could do was to make them proud."

Sergeant Mitokpe's father, Joseph Metopke, said he has no regrets about his son's departure from Africa and subsequent entry into the Air Force.

"I am happy he is where he is, but it's also important that he is here visiting us," he said. "I see he is happy. He is a lucky boy, you know."

It seems some of Sergeant Mitokpe's luck may have touched the 9-year-old, as Dr. Bankah looked at his calendar.

"We will admit him Thursday for his labs and the surgery," the doctor said.

Alex's prognosis is still questionable, but now, there is hope.

"These patients can deteriorate rather quickly, especially when they have not been treated for such a long time," Dr. Bankah said. "But we hope Alex's surgery will at least arrest the problem; and at best, it will allow the brain to begin to grow again."

Sergeant Mitokpe bid Alex farewell, and soon after did the same with his parents, brother and sister. It won't be long before he leaves Africa behind once again as well. The words Joseph spoke to Sergeant Mitokpe a decade ago are evident on two fronts today according to his deployed first sergeant, Master Sgt. John George.

"Sergeant Mitokpe's generosity and kindness are an inspiration for both Africans and Americans, he makes us all proud," the sergeant said.

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