Mother seeks help for daughter
KAHCINE LINDSAY is in distress. Her four-year-old daughter, LydiaRae Lindsay, is in need of open heart surgery, but the mother of two, who works as an early childhood educator, said the cost is simply out of her reach.
“I know I need some help. I am still processing a lot,” Kahcine told The Gleaner.
She explained that two months after Lydia-Rae was born, doctors discovered that she had a heart murmur.
But although this condition made her susceptible to infections, she was able to live a normal life up until two years ago, when she was diagnosed with complete atrioventricular septal defect (AVSD).
This severe congenital heart disease is characterised by a large hole in the tissue that separates the left and right sides of the heart.
While dealing with the varying symptoms associated with her diagnosis, Lydia-Rae and her mother also faced the burden of travelling from their home in St Thomas to the Bustamante Hospital for Children in St Andrew, at least twice per month as she dealt with “near-death experiences with back-to-back chest infections and pneumonia,” and recurring admissions.
Last year, she said her daughter’s chest infections led her to being dependent on medical oxygen and she was only allowed to leave the hospital with an oxygen concentrator, which at the time cost approximately $500,000.
FINANCIAL SUPPORT
But thankfully, she said her church family rallied to support her financially and her daughter was able to be home on oxygen for approximately eight months before being weaned in December.
However, she said during this time her electricity bills hiked to approximately $44,000.
Added to her ordeal is the fact that she is still mourning the loss of her partner, who died from a heart-related condition shortly after Lydia Rae was born.
“Lydia-Rae needs an open heart surgery which should have been ideally resolved in infancy. However, the public system is so packed and resources meagre that Lydia-Rae is continually being placed in the long line of patients to be treated while her condition worsens,” he said.
The disheartened mother, while acknowledging that the corrective procedure can be done at the Bustamante Hospital for Children, is discouraged by what she said is the long wait period.
As a result, she said she is exploring taking her child overseas to get surgery done.
“The cry now is to get funds to transport her abroad in the quickest possible time for medical treatment. Several hospitals and agencies have been approached but it continues to be complicated,” she said.
She is appealing for help with this process, sharing that dealing with a critically ill child has been distressing on her family.
“The effect on the family has been traumatic, so having her being healed would really bring some joy back to us and give us some additional hope, because we have hope in God,” she said.
But, as she awaits help, she shared that her daughter’s spirit keeps her going.
“She is a very happy child, she will make you happy even though she is very sick. Usually when you go to visit her in the hospital and you feel like ‘OMG’, this is what the doctor said and you feel down, and everything. When you go in, she’ll give you the biggest smile, she’ll shout and she’s full of excitement, always doing something to make you laugh, always giving hugs and kisses … very warm child.”