Fadesola Adedayo, a Canada-based 25-year old Nigerian civil engineer, who commenced a 17-day marathon race from Abuja to Lagos last Friday to promote greater awareness and raise research funds on the Stevens Johnson Syndrome (SJS) in Nigeria, arrived in Lokoja today.
The marathoner , who arrived Lokoja at about 9:15 am, said that the day marked his sixth day on the road , running 44 kilometres per day.
Adedayo told newsmen that he embarked on the project to keep alive the memory of his Birmingham, UK-based late older brother, Dr Adeyosola Adedayo, who died of the syndrome on March 20, 2012 in Lagos during a free community health service.
The marathoner explained that SJS was an allergic skin reaction to drug , saying that the disease was not new as being wrongly inputted in some quarters.
According to him, victims of the disease in the Western world have 60 per cent survival chance but that the mortality was far higher in Africa and other developing world.
He said that the marathon race was to create awareness and raise funds for research on the syndrome , saying that part of the funds will be used to create a data base of its victims in Nigeria.
“The message to Nigerians is that don’t use drug without prescription by qualified medical personnel”, Adedayo said.
He said that his late brother, who was a University of Birmingham-trained medical doctor, died in Nigeria while at the head of a medical team offering free medical services to the people of Ijora-Badiya in Lagos.
The marathoner , who is a son of a Lagos medical practitioner, Dr. Adesola Adedayo, said that his late brother was a regular participant in the annual London Marathon Race, hence his decision to adopt marathon to create awareness and raise funds for the syndrome in Nigeria.
A graduate of civil engineering from University of Western Ontario, Canada, Adedayo described Nigerians he came across in the course of the race in all villages and towns as ‘’wonderful and very supportive’’.
He also described Nigerians as ‘’generally kind and pleasant ‘’, saying that apart from offering prayers , they also donated money ranging from N50 to N1,000 to him while a woman donated a can of petroleum jelly.
The Marathoner expressed the hope that he would make it to Lagos on the 17th day of the race which was flagged off from Abuja on March 13 by the Health Minister, Prof. Isaac Adewole.
