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SEVENTEEN-YEAR-old Akua Adoma Ofori, a student of Achimota Senior High School, Accra who was diagnosed with a brain tumor late last year, is appealing for financial assistance to help raise $100,000 for her to undergo neurosurgery. According to Akua�s brother, 23-year-old Kodjo Karikari, a neuroscience major at Bucknell University in the United States, she began to experience various symptoms including severe headaches, disorientation and memory loss in October last year, before seizures and eventually coma which lasted for some time. Having been put on a variety of steroidal medication which made her gain 70 pounds, she is also struggling with diabetes and thyroid complications as side effects from the steroids. Kodjo Karikari has put his studies on hold to raise funds for his sister�s surgery. Although the tumor is operable, Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, where Ofori was being treated, does not have the equipment or facilities to perform the life-saving surgery she needs. Akua�s mother, Juliana Oates, is a permanent resident of the United States, but she does not have health insurance and cannot afford the operation or aftercare for her daughter. According to a Daily Guide Guide source, the International Central Gospel Church (ICGC), where Juliana fellowships when in Ghana, has donated $5000 to help Akua. Juliana was in the country earlier on to take care of her daughter. The Daily Guide source disclosed that with the amount donated by ICGC, Akua and her mother were flown out of the country to the US on Monday. It is expected that she would be monitored by health personnel in a US hospital, as her family and friends here in Ghana continue to raise funds for the surgery As part of efforts to raise funds for their colleague who is in her third year, students at Achimota School are also soliciting help from corporate bodies in order to save Akua�s life.