Four-year-old fights for life at K.H.M.H.

In much of our reporting over the last several weeks, we have used the word crisis to describe the situation now facing the country. But the following story, reported by Jacqueline Woods, forces us to realize that there are things in this world more precious than political power and corporate shareholding. Things like the life of a child.

Jacqueline Woods, Reporting
It?s a miracle that four-year-old Eric Arzu is still alive. Since he was six months old, Arzu has been battling with fibrosis of the liver, a condition that is rarely seen in children his age. Doctors are not sure how little Eric got sick, but his condition is deteriorating and without a liver transplant, he will die.

Dr. Tessa Gibson, Medical Officer, K.H.M.H.
?Fibrosis is actually scarring of the liver. It means that the liver architecture is completely changed from the normal liver cells that are in there, to like scar tissue. It?s actually completely destroyed and it doesn?t perform its normal functions.?

The condition has caused excessive abdominal swelling due to an accumulation of fluid…a situation for which there is no relief.

Dr. Tessa Gibson
?We can never tell when everything will completely deteriorate, but we can tell now that as with this last admission, that Eric isn?t his normal self. He usually eats–he is always asking for his rice and beans and so on, and this time he doesn?t want his rice and beans, so we really know that he is really not doing so good and kind of sleeping a lot. And so we know that Eric does not have that much time to get better, so he really needs the surgery urgently.?

It?s a painful realisation that Eric?s family, especially his grandmother and guardian Phyllis Alvarez, has accepted. Alvarez has been staying by her grandson?s hospital bed hoping against all the odds that he will survive

Phyllis Alvarez, Grandmother
?Staying here in the hospital, it?s a big sacrifice for me because I love my grandson. That?s why I am here with him… When he was six months old we noticed that his abdomen was getting big and his eyes were getting yellow.?

At this stage, there is nothing the hospital can do but try to support their young patient until he gets the life saving surgery he needs.

Dr. Tessa Gibson
?He has I.V. fluids right now. He is taking a little bit of Ensure that has good nutrition, but he is not really getting as much nutrition as he should at this stage, so we are just trying to maintain him with the I.V. fluids going into his veins and so on.?

It is hoped that a Good Samaritan or charitable organization will be able to help get Eric into a transplant programme that would be able to assist his family who simply cannot afford such a treatment.

Phyllis Alvarez, Grandmother
?It?s a big blow to mind a case like this, but only because I love my grandson, so that is why I am sacrificing to mind him up to the very last.?

Jacqueline Woods for News Five

Medical sources tell News Five it is very difficult getting children like Eric Arzu into transplant programmes, but the family may be able to get the affordable help they need in Mexico, Costa Rica or the United States. They emphasize that what is needed in the first instance is not money, but access to a transplant programme that accepts this type of patient. Any viewers who can provide such a connection is asked to please contact Phyllis Alvarez at the K.H.M.H.