6-year old needs stem cell treatment
Juliet Marumo, mother of a 6-yearold Refilwe ‘Riri’ Marumo can’t bear the pain of watching her daughter suffer from Autism Spectrum Disorder and pleads for help to take her for medical attention in India at a cost of P150 000.
At six, Riri has never been able to speak in her life and has problems with general interactions. She was first diagnosed with delayed development when she was two years-old.
“She didn’t have speech at that age, while her age mates were far ahead in speech and other milestones. She was then referred for speech therapy, and as she grew, as a mother I could pick a lot of autism symptoms and I felt that possibly the therapy she was receiving was not addressing her actual problem”, Marumo said.
While observing this, she took Riri for another assessment early this year in January, where it was confirmed that she is indeed autistic, and diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Riri is currently undergoing therapy sessions with a psychologist and speech therapist, but both seem not to be helpful.
Marumo’s main worry is that her child can’t read or write, and is lagging behind in academics. Marumo said a doctor in India told the family that the only treatment that could assist her daughter is stem cell treatment.
According to the neurosurgeon, Dr Sushil Kasekar, stem cell treatment will entail extracting stem cells from Riri’s bone marrow and injecting it in her spine. The cells will then go to her brain, where they will multiply and rejuvenate her brain cells.
This would then allow her to be able to do a lot of things that she can’t do currently. Marumo said this would require some more therapy to enable Riri to adapt to doing things she can’t do.
The stem cell treatment gives her hope and she counts on members of the public to help her raise funds for her child’s treatment in India.
According to doctors, this will be a once off trip after which the little girl can continue with her other therapies here in Botswana.
Her appointment date is August 8, 2021. “Living with an autistic child is very frustrating because I sometimes fail to understand her, as she exists alone in her own world and can’t express herself ”, Marumo said, adding that little Riri responds with a hot temper when things are not done her way.
“She even bites, I have bite marks on my body and hands, other kids get terrified when she loses her temper. She is very hyper active and destroys things around the house, to a point that she sometimes hurts herself”, Marumo explained.
She said this means close monitoring and round the clock care. All Marumo wishes for is to see her daughter smile at her and tell her how she feels. The current situation leaves her both physically and emotionally drained.
“I sometimes cry as I get overwhelmed when I see my only girl failing to interact”, she said. Riri is currently at pre-school and waiting to enrol in primary school and Marumo’s worst fear is that at ‘big school’ her interaction with other students may be more challenging.