African Mother Arrives To Help Her Ailing Son

Mrs. Asabi Adedire, dressed in the traditional robes of herj native África, stepped off al plane at Metropolitan Airportj yesterday afternoon to begin a medical adventure to save the life of her stricken son. Abraham Adedire, a 26-yearold chemist educated at Michigan State University, lies in University Hospital, a victim of a progressive kidney d i s e a s e whieh doctors say is irreversible and potentially fatal. Doctors say that Adedire will need a healthy kidney to save his life. That is why his mother is here. Mrs. Adedire was accompanied by her daughter, Janet, a 22-year-old Nigerian teacher. Mrs. Adedire cannot speak English and relied on her daughter to translate questions into Yoruba, her native dialect. "The Red Cross came to us jast four days ago to teil us the flight was today," Janët said. "We brought very few things." The long day provided many firsts for mother and daughter. 1 II was the first time they had bpen out of África and the first time they had traveled by air. It was also the first time they had seen snow. But they came prepared for icy winds by wearing sweaters under their robes. They had donned them in tropi-j cal Nigeria. The trip was financed through a trust fund built by contributions to aid in defraying medical and other expenses. As the photographers pressed close to them at the airport they j seemed hardly to notice. Theyl had experienced similar treatj ment in Nigeria and seemed calm and unafraid. "Mother is not frightened," Janet said. "When I told her] what the operation meant and that it could save her son, she said she was ready lo leave that very day. There at the airport to meet the two were Adedire's Michigan-born wife, Margaret, and their two children, Ronke, 3, and ïayo, 2. AH went directly to University Hospital where Mrs. Adedire was united with her son. The transplant operation is by no means a certainty, a hospital official said. Preliminary tests in Nigeria indicated that the mother-son kidney transplant is a possibility. Only after three or four days of extensive tests here can hospital surgeons be certain of compatibility, he added. Until then, everyone must wait- hoping that a 7,000 mile trip halfway around the world was not made in vain. M r s. Adcdire was confident. "I am not worricd about my part," she said throuEh her daughter.