Fourteen-year-old Isaiah De Bourgh will soon get the life-saving surgery he requires.
The confirmation came from a senior Ministry of Health official on Wednesday following concerns by Isaiah’s mother Shirley-Ann De Bourgh that her son’s condition was not being given the urgency it deserved.
Isaiah, who had part of his skull removed after a blood vessel ruptured in his head seven months ago, has a brain aneurysm.
In an interview at her Princes Town home earlier this week, De Bourgh said her son’s health deteriorated suddenly and quickly. Last October 9, the Form One Princes Town West Secondary School student was preparing for classes, when his mother said a noise was heard in the washroom. The teen was found on the floor having seizures.
She said doctors at the San Fernando General Hospital told her that a blood vessel burst in his head. Two days later, doctors performed a decompressive craniectomy. “His brain started to swell very badly and they needed to cut out part of his skull...All the pupils in his eyes were bulging out. The brain was pushing out the eyes,” she recalled.
The mother said she was told that her son needed a digital subtraction angiography of the brain (DSA), but the procedure was not available at the hospital.
De Bourgh, a housewife, and her husband Anthony, a mechanic, did not have the funds to pay for it so a doctor at the SFGH gave her a letter to take to the SWRHA’s Medical Social Officer, requesting funding for the DSA to be conducted at a private institution.
The mother said the procedure was done last week, and it revealed that he had a brain aneurysm. She said her son now has to do a Cerebral Embolization with Onyx.
De Bourgh, a mother of four, again submitted a doctor’s referral letter to the Social Medical Officer requesting urgent assistance after she was told it couldn’t be done at the hospital.
But, she was concerned about the length of time it would take to get the procedure done.
“The DSA scan take almost six months. I don’t want to wait a whole next six months. If the brain aneurysm ruptures he might not stand a chance. He needs that procedure done as soon as possible,” De Bourgh said.
She added Isaiah has “big dreams” he wants to accomplish, but she admitted that his condition has also affected him mentally and emotionally.
“It is not a nice thing that a mother has to see her son going through every day and doing everything for him. He cries. He says, ‘Mummy I want to go to school. I want to go to work, I don’t want to depend on allyuh the rest of my life,’” she said.
Isaiah uses a second-hand wheelchair because he cannot walk on his own and his left hand has limited mobility.
De Bourgh lamented that the family is struggling to make ends meet at a time when Isaiah requires lots of help.
But a senior healthcare official told Guardian Media that the teen’s case was being treated urgently and plans were already in place to ensure the surgery was done as soon as possible.
In a statement, the SWRHA stated that they have “now arrived at a definitive solution that more fully addresses the De Bourgh’s concerns.
“In the interim to full implementation of the way forward, we will continue to provide the necessary assistance which aids in the delivery of excellent patient care,” it stated.
