Praise Aki Amedal, a Nigerian living in the city of Oriade, has just completed his first book entitled The Biological Prisoner . . . Finding Hope in a Failing Body. Praise describes his decades-long struggle with an unknown and painful disease that eventually caused paralysis.

The other painful experience for Praise and his family has been what he describes as religious scammers. People that promise a non-existent cure for a fee.

Praise’s mother would not give up hope of finding the cause of his illness. For years she fell victim to the false promises, leaving Praise discouraged and wary of all religions.

Praise has invited us to witness his inner thoughts and his strength in coping with disease progression. But most of all with this powerful book he invites you to journey with him. Despite his illness, he intends to use his experience to provide consultation, education, and help to other Nigerians with rare diseases. Praise is determined to conquer his disease and to bring awareness to others who believe in “devil deliverance” rather than science.

A Story of a Rare Disease and a Courageous Young Man

Praise Aki Amedal was born in Oriade, Nigeria. His mother, Beatrice, was a teacher who supported their family of six for several years while Praise’s father attended Madras University in India studying electronics.

Praise entered primary school in 1995 where he began to learn English. He enjoyed school and was always pleased to follow his mother when she was assigned to a new school.

Praise had plans to become an airplane pilot. Those plans started to look doubtful when he began to notice a gradual weakness and loss of balance, causing him to often fall even when walking.

His numerous incidents of falling were not lost on his school mates who ridiculed him. Praise relates the effect this had on his already low self-esteem.

Praise also had a hard time talking about his symptoms and found it easier to keep these matters to himself. However, one of his teachers did notice the difficulty he was having and recommended that his mother take him to see a doctor.

His mother took him to see an orthopedic specialist at a nearby teaching hospital. After extensive tests the doctor told Praise and his mother that the tests were inconclusive and recommended six months of physical therapy, which did not produce positive results.

Praise tried herbs for a while until he became seriously ill from a contaminated herb. A friend suggested that he may not have an illness but has been attacked by demons. She knew of a woman who could bring his health back if his family would join her church and pay a fee.

The family’s participation in this church was only one of many costly attempts to find a cure, only to find that the promised miracles are staged and nonexistent.

Praise found friends in his final year of primary school but could not join them at secondary school because of the difficulty in traveling and the cost involved.

While in his first year of government-run secondary school Praise had a serious fall and was taken to the hospital. He described his doctor as a Christian who promised to refer him to a friend who would examine him.

When his mother followed up on this promise, the doctor said he had a bad dream about Praise and demons. He quickly dismissed the idea of getting his friend to help him.

Praise looks back on his three years at junior secondary class as being faced with many obstacles. His grades were good in spite of having to miss many days of school due to illness.

He struggled to maintain self-confidence by avoiding classmates who did not understand his illness.

Having no other options at the time Praise and his mother were still searching for someone to administer “demons deliverance”.

They found a woman who said that he had been attacked by demons. They paid her a fee for her ritual after which she claimed that she had exorcised fourteen demons out of the twenty-four that had attacked him. Praise believed her and waited for his health to return.

His mother wanted to end the hunt for someone who could exorcise demons but could not pass up an offer of a miracle.

At the end of his third year, the disease had progressed to a point where he had to leave school. His mother had instilled the value of an education. Praise loved to study and achieved high grades. School meant a lot to him but he had to finally let go.

A member of his family told Praise about a “traditional” man in town who could help him. His mother was concerned though, as Praise and his family are Christians and it may not sit well with the rest of their congregation.

However, they visited him and were asked for money to pay for the ritual which required the killing of a goat. If the goat died Praise would be cured. The goat died but Praise remained as before.

Praise also had a psychological aspect of the disease to deal with. He decided that the time for superstition in Nigeria should be over.

Praise refuses to say “why me?” He would like some answers about how people can remain ignorant and laugh at someone with a disability. He wants to change that.

His mother developed a neurological problem that required hospitalization. While at the clinic she observed many doctors who were talented and dedicated. She told Praise about them and that they should finally abandon all thoughts of demons.

One of the doctors told her to bring Praise to the Obafemi Awolowo Teaching Hospital. It had been eleven years since he had been thoroughly examined. Praise was given a comprehensive examination that included a muscle biopsy.

The doctors were again unable to determine the illness or its origin, but the biopsy showed that Praise had considerable muscle damage.

The doctor apologized for not being able to pinpoint the problem by explaining that Nigerian hospitals are not equipped to give an accurate diagnosis. Praise was devastated.

He began self-medication again. He took steroids but they had significant side effects. Praise showed his medical records to doctors he knew. Money is a serious issue because Praise cannot afford proper care and there is no government assistance in Nigeria for those who are ill.

At this point he felt helpless and did not know where to turn. Every doctor at every hospital he spoke with said he must have an accurate diagnosis before they can attempt to help him. It was clear that he had to be examined outside of Nigeria. But how? And where?

Praise needed money and began to play the lottery but soon learned that is not the answer.

Someone who Praise describes only as “a man who saw his case” decided to help finance a trip to a hospital outside of Nigeria. Praise does not know how the man found out about his financial problems but Praise was so grateful. He began sending his medical records to doctors in the UK, USA, Germany, and India.

The decision was made for Praise to be examined at a hospital in Delhi, India. The “man” sent thousands of U.S. dollars to the hospital.

Praise and his father flew to Delhi. He describes the area around the hospital in Delhi as being well kept with new buildings. He admitted to receiving stares from hospital visitors and pedestrians who were not accustomed to seeing a black person.

Praise had a series of tests on the brain, spine, heart, and lungs. The trip and the tests at the Delhi hospital did not turn out well. Praise explains the problems in detail in his book.

Praise would like to work together with his mom as advocates for people in Nigeria who have rare diseases. He refers to the time they wasted seeking deliverance from witchcraft and false religious fanatics who were pretending to be good Christians. He cautions fellow Nigerians to see a doctor if they are sick and not fall victim to false miracle healers.

Praise feels that Nigerians put too much emphasis on religion with respect to illness. He said that an illness can only be cured by state-of-the-art technology and the world’s finest medical teams and scientists.

Praise points out that humans are 99.9% genetically identical with three billion letters in our DNA code. However, an abnormality in the remaining 0.1% can result in a rare disease. He goes on to say that a rare disease does not discriminate as it occurs to all ages of poor, rich, illiterate, and educated people. His advice, and the advice he follows, is not to give up.

Through all his struggles, Praise still believes he was put on this earth to help others. If his story can stop people with a rare disease from falling for scams he will be forever blessed.

In addition to his illness, Praise has struggled due to his financial constraints. His doctors have made him realize that he should swallow his pride and seek financial help.

Although Praise realizes that he may have to live with pain for the rest of his life, there are still many medical needs and even new tests that he is unable to afford.

He talks about isolation. By that he means how having a rare disease separates you from others. He uses the example of walking into a room where people refuse to even make eye contact with him.

Since Praise has often experienced this type of isolation, he wants to help others who have similar challenges. To let them know there is no shame in having a rare disease.

Praise hopes one day to have a rehabilitation center for patients and their families. A place where they can go for consultation and education about rare diseases. A place that will end their isolation.

In the meantime, Praise is concentrating on the sale of this book. He is asking for help from the reader and others for much needed medical equipment and treatment through the sale of the book.

He hopes that one day he will be able to write a book about his full recovery.  Praise wants to be happy, but he believes life is better when you make others happy.

His motto is that living for others is a rule of nature. That we were all born to help each other. He is asking you to help him reach his goal. “You have not lived until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.”

You can buy Praise’s book here.