Kenyan Man with Abnormal Swelling in Chest, Arms Seeks Help to Get Live-Saving Surgery

A 30-year-old Kenyan man who developed abnormal swelling in his arms and chest is pleading with well-wishers to help him get a life-saving operation.

Ronny Rono, a former body-building enthusiast, is suspected to have developed the condition after what is believed to be a Synthol injection.

The swelling has left the orphan from Bureti Constituency in Kericho County unable to feed, bathe and even wear clothes since mid-2016. 

“The condition began with a small swelling in my right arm and when I went to a private hospital in Kericho town, I was just given painkillers and informed that I required surgery to remove the tumor,” said Rono.

The swelling began in his right hand before spreading to the left hand in April 2017 and torso in the following months.

“Ironically, I couldn’t feel much pain but it reached an alarming level last year when the swelling reached my chest. I underwent biopsy at the Kericho county hospital but the doctors couldn’t determine what I am suffering from and yet the swelling and the numbness persisted and is now spreading to my neck,” Rono told The Standard.

“The condition makes me feel like I am carrying a lot of weight which my backbone cannot support and that is why I am always feeling fatigued, I have to lie in bed,” he added.

His arms have become almost numb and constantly experiences breathing difficulties among other problems.

An MRI chest analysis conducted by Dr. W. Otieno, a radiologist at Lakeside MRI notes: “Foci of fat infiltration are evident within the hypertrophied muscles.”

Dr. Philemon Letting of Kericho Fig Tree Hospital told The Standard that Rono’s condition is a suspected case of Synthol injection. Rono denied ever having such an injection during his bodybuilding days at a fitness center in Nairobi.

“I don’t have any recollection of receiving the Synthol injection. I was nonetheless drunk most of the time during my bodybuilding days and I don’t have a memory of everything I might have done,” he said.

His wife abandoned him taking with her their five-year-old daughter. The condition also forced him to quit his job at Elimu Sacco.

“After I suffered the health complications, I had no option but to quit my job last year at Elimu Sacco where I worked as a junior employee at the registry. This means I couldn’t afford to fend for my family and my wife abandoned me,” he said.

The man needs at least Sh3 million to restore his shape through plastic and reconstructive surgery.

“We have since spent all the money we had going from one hospital to another,” His cousin, Hilda Chepkemoi said.

Financial aid can be channeled to Mpesa Paybill number 763424. “I pray that I will get healed. Go back to work and be in a position to win back my family. I really miss my daughter,” said Rono.