Matilda

Matilda is a 7 year old girl in the Araloosa Village, at the end of our road.  The first team discovered her sitting next to her hut, unable to stand.   At first she was very frightened of us.  But Dan Stimax persisted in talking to her and reaching out to her.  We have all wanted to see how we could help her. 

 

Well, Sena, Miriam, and I spent Tuesday at the Children's Hospital in Lusaka – near SOS village - with Matilda and her father. It is a new, clean, friendly, bright, and lovely place.   Matilda was examined by 2 doctors, had multiple xrays and blood work done.  Her diagnosis is that she has TB of the spine, which has caused damage to her upper spine and caused it to impinge upon her spinal cord.   The result is that she can't use her legs, and has trouble controlling her functions.

 

I didn't realize that you can have TB of many parts of your body, not just your lungs.  It can be of the abdomen, heart, skin, bones, spine, etc.   TB is a bacterial infection that is very hard to treat.  It also isn't particularly painful, so you can have it and not really know until you have damage from it.   Only the lung TB is contagious.

 

Benedict and I will take her and her dad to Liteta Hospital tomorrow with a letter from the doctor we saw today.   She will be on TB medicine that we will get at that hospital to try and stop any further infection.  All TB medications, whether for adults or children are provided free by the government.

 

We will return to the Children's Hospital at the end of October for another consultation.

The doctor, Dr. Swan, is also going to consult with some friends of his, I think from the states.  They are considering a trip to Zambia at the end of the year.  Some of them are experts in spinal surgery.  He said it would be a very difficult surgery and he is not even sure that the doctors would consider it.

 

The blood work shows that her parents are taking good care of her.  Her hemoglobin is good considering.   She has no sores, even though she sometimes is messing her pants.  He said that if they hadn't been taking good care of her, she would probably be dead.

He said that she also has good upper body strength.

 

I asked about a wheelchair.  In the reception area they had a very nice, sturdy looking, little wheelchair.   It was red.  So we put her in it while we were waiting for Benedict to arrive to pick us up.  She had a huge smile on her face and got the hang of it pretty quickly – going forward, backwards, sideways.   Sena was taking her out the door and down a couple of ramps and it was a joy to hear her laugh.

 

Can we raise the money to get one for her?  I'm not sure how much it will be.   A doctor friend of ours here is going to check with a woman he knows who is able to get wheelchairs.  Otherwise we will have to buy one.  I figure if she has a wheelchair, we can get some of the older girls in the village to push her to school in it.

 

Today I was thinking of all of you who have been here this summer and been concerned for her, especially you, Dan.   I thought you would be pleased with our efforts so far.

 

It is good to have a diagnosis.  However, on the human level, it is discouraging given the fact that she has so much damage.   So we believe that God brought her to our attention for a reason.  Let's all agree – from Maryland to Wisconsin to Oregon – to pray for her, that God will perform a miracle and that as the TB goes away, He will restore the functioning of her legs and body.

 

Update later on Wednesday:  We just returned from the hospital in Liteta.   They have a TB clinic there where all the medicine is dispensed.  Because her TB is one of the most serious, she will have to have an injection every day for 2 months, along with oral medicine.   The oral medicine could continue for as long as 8-10 months.  One suggestion was that she stay in the hospital for 2 months while they give injections.   Sounded like a bad idea to us.  So every day we will pick up Matilda on our way to drop Sena off at school, and then continue on the road to the hospital and get her an injection.   We will also take her on the weekends.  We hope that between the Kamau's and us that it will work out without too much difficulty.   Pray that Matilda is cooperative, that the transportation is easy, and that there will be improvement in her condition.

 

Blessings, Kathleen

 

PS.  We do have a mailing address here:  P.O.Box 4          Fringilla     Chibombo       Zambia.