Thanks to a beautiful donor Anthony will begin another medical journey. Anthony began having seizures around 18 months of age and when he was taken to the hospital they assumed he was having seizures because of high fever and gave him medication. He was having 2 seizures a month and each month they gave him the same medication…..no diagnostic tests, just given meds. After 6 months Anthony’s neck became stiff and that’s when the hospital sent mama to Nairobi. There they did a CT scan and found a lesion in his brain. Mama told them the father had TB and Anthony slept with them so they gave him 6 months treatment for TB meningitis (assuming the mass was from that, sorry I don’t know all the medical terms but this is how I understand it) although all tests for TB on Anthony came back negative.
During this time Anthony’s father abandoned the family and mama was unable to pay the hospital bill. She also couldn’t afford to begin the physical therapy which the hospital suggested. We are now 2 years after all this and Anthony is 4 years old, has diminished mental capacity and low motor skills. He can’t walk or talk so mama needs to carry him everywhere. No sense dwelling on the past but IF the first hospital would have done some sort of diagnostic perhaps Anthony wouldn’t be in the state he is now.
We took Anthony to the doctor’s recently, a doctor we trust who also works with our children at C4KK, and he suggested a follow up CT scan to see if the mass in the brain is gone (possibly taken care of by the TB meningitis treatment) or if it’s still there what would be the next step.
The doctor explained his understanding of the culture….does she abandon Anthony and take care of her other children or take care of Anthony and the other children suffer because mama is unable to find work to help feed the family? He also told us many people who can give the specialized treatment Anthony needs prey on those who need it and charge exorbitant rates, making it almost impossible for those who need the treatment to get it.
So our next step is getting Anthony the follow up CT scan. We are hoping to have that scheduled very, very soon in order to see the way forward. Thank you donor for helping to get this process moving and I’ll keep you all posted on the progress.
To help us continue helping those in desperate need please consider becoming a monthly (or one time) donor to the Benevolence Fund. Tomorrow I’ll tell you about a couple more cases we are currently working with and you can see how your support is literally helping to save lives.