Parents seek help for baby with a tumor
The symptoms are similar to an asthma attack, but the problem is caused by a tumor in the chest. Tonight we bring you the story of a baby fighting for his life and his parents’ attempts to raise money for treatment. Hyacinth Latchman reports.
Four month old baby Hansel is suffering from a Mediastinal tumor and is in need of urgent help. Hansel Sr. says the baby was born apparently normal, but he began having problems in December.
Hansel Petillo Sr., Father
“At that time I thought the child was suffering from asthma and we brought him here before the Christmas and we brought him here for a month and from then he left here after New Years. About last week they told us that he was suffering from a tumor.”
Q: “Okay, what was going through your mind then?”
Hansel Petillo Sr.
“Well I said I would just leave it into the hands of God to just take control of everything.”
Dr. Egbert Grinage is the co-founder of Friends of Pediatrics. He explains exactly what Hansel Petillo and his common-law, wife Mary Avila are facing.
Dr. Egbert Grinage, Pediatrician
“A Mediastinal tumor or mass that occur in the chest cavity. The Mediastinal is divided into two parts mainly parts by your esophagus and that part in your back which is called a posterior Mediastinal. So we are talking about the part of the body that is enclosed in the ribs mainly. That part of the body encloses your lungs and your heart mainly. That part of the Mediastinal is outside of the heart and lungs and is enclosing by the boning rib cage. And then the part that is behind the back which is behind the heart and the lungs and the two major organs which are the trachea and the esophagus. They are some blood vessels in that area also so its behind these structures that we are talking about here today.”
Grinage says that before it is discovered that a child might be suffering from Mediastinal Tumor or mass, practitioners sometimes mistakenly think it’s asthma because of the difficulty the child has breathing. Without proper diagnoses the condition could be fatal.
Dr. Egbert Grinage
Death will definitely occur and I think what you will notice is that the child will get acute life threatening events, A.L.T.E. Because of the compression of both structures both the feeding tube and the breathing tube and the child would not be able to swallow properly and milk cannot go down and food cannot go down and the child would get blue and would need resuscitate over and over again.”
Mary Avila, Mother
“Well it has been a tragedy to me, however, but I have got to hold on for the best to come for the child, no. He has brought a lot of joy and happiness to me. I got two sons and they are already used to him already. So I do not want to end up hearing that he is dead and those things.”
Baby Hansel needs to travel abroad for a surgery which could help him and eventually remove his tumor. However, his parents cannot afford the operation nor the necessary aftercare. They are appealing to the public for contributions.
Mary Avila
“Just help we out so we could take him abroad, because he is to go, to go and take an operation. So I just want to ask the people out there for a little donation towards the child.”
Hyacinth Latchman for News Five.
The family is in need of three thousand five hundred dollars. If you would like to contribute, you can call 025-6059 or 025-6060 or visit the Karl Heusner Memorial and ask for Hansel Petillo Sr. or Mary Avila.
