LIFE is now getting back to normal for young Meander Keturah Loo, a sixth grade student of the All Saints Primary School in New Amsterdam, Berbice, who recently completed a total of four surgeries in Colombia.

She had a tumor on her brain stem (the piece at the back of her head that connects to the spinal cord), and this had made it very difficult for her to enjoy the normal life of a 10-year-old.
Keturah, lovingly called ‘Ketty’ at home, had been coping with severe headaches, fever and vomiting since September 2009, and her family had taken her “from doctor to doctor,” trying to deal with the problem. It was only after she had a severe seizure and semi-stroke last August that an MRI was suggested. The results were what informed everyone of the reason for Ketty’s illness.
The diagnosis had been made while she was in hospital during the period of November 5 to 26.
Ketty subsequently found herself in urgent need of a surgery that could not be performed here in Guyana. The family needed to come up with millions of dollars that they did not have!
Eventually, with kind assistance from others, the family managed to take Ketty to Barranquilla, Colombia, at the end of December 2012. They went to do one surgery, but ended up doing four, her single-parent mother, Karen, told the Chronicle recently.
Because the family initially could not understand what had gone wrong with Ketty, they delayed for two years in checking to see if it had to do with her head. “Due to the two-year delay, the tumor had grown bigger than anyone could survive with. So the doctors in Colombia were surprised that she could have even travelled there for the surgery,” Karen explained.
The surgeries, all bloodless, were done by doctors who were warm and kind, and who took the time to explain the options that were available to the family.
“They were very tender with Ketty; they were doctors with heart. Nothing was about money any longer; it was about saving lives,” Karen said.
Ever since they returned home last month, Ketty has been improving on a daily basis, her mother said. “She is putting on weight, and is now a normal 11-year-old child, eating, playing, laughing. She’s amazing!
“Throughout the surgery, she had a strong willpower, and was always very positive,” her mother disclosed.
The family would like to thank everyone who helped out, including the Government of Guyana, the Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry (GBTI), L. Seepersaud and Sons Limited in the Stabroek Market, and the nurses and doctors of the Georgetown Hospital.
They are also grateful to others who contributed in many other practical ways to Ketty’s new lease on life.
Before the surgeries were performed, the tumor was affecting Ketty’s eyes, throat and mobility; hence, without treatment, she could have gone blind, her mobility would obviously have been affected, and she would not have been able to engage in any form of eating. She had to be attended to on a 24-hour basis.
Karen has this advice for parents: “Care for your children, and have them checked out whenever you see any strange behaviour. Get to know your kids.”