On ventilator for 1 year, Kenyan boy gets back on feet

  • | Friday | 7th December, 2018

His body was paralysed below the neck and he was surviving on ventilator support.The boy was brought to the city in August 2018 and underwent deep brain stimulation procedure at Aster CMI Hospital. But his spinal cord was dislocated, which affected his breathing. But the damage to his brain and spinal cord worsened his condition. But being used to a ventilator for a long time, Blassio resisted every attempt to make him breathe more. “The boy was operated in his country in 2016 to fix the fracture i n his neck.

BENGALURU: A seven-year-old boy from Kenya — who was paralysed and on a ventilator for the past year — can now walk, eat and breathe on his own, thanks to a group of city doctors. Blassio Yoko Yamu , who hails from a village near Mombasa, was playing on the streets when he was hit by a car in February 2016. He was rushed to a local hospital where he under went first aid and a CT scan, only to be discharged after a couple of days. But the damage to his brain and spinal cord worsened his condition. His body was paralysed below the neck and he was surviving on ventilator support.The boy was brought to the city in August 2018 and underwent deep brain stimulation procedure at Aster CMI Hospital. “The boy was operated in his country in 2016 to fix the fracture i n his neck. But his spinal cord was dislocated, which affected his breathing. He also suffered from seizure,” said Dr Ravi Gopal Varma, chief of neurosciences and lead consultant neurosurgery, Aster CMI Hospital.The phrenic nerve, through which the brain controls respiration, was intact. But the muscles surrounding it in the spinal cord were damaged, leading to breathing difficulty.Through a deep brain stimulation procedure, the diaphragm muscle surrounding the phrenic nerve was activated and a pacemaker inserted to stimulate it.“Over the next two weeks, support from the pacemaker was escalated. But being used to a ventilator for a long time, Blassio resisted every attempt to make him breathe more. Behavioural issues made it difficult for him to adjust. With the help of a child psychiatry team, counsellors and a determined mother, the boy made slow progress to be weaned off the ventilator,” Dr Varma added.Yamu was accompanied by his mother, Norah Wambui, through his stay in Bengaluru. The treatment cost was borne by the Kenyan government.

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