ELEVEN-year-old Leon Bagot and his 16-year-old sister, Devon, were both born with cataract, but that doesn’t stop either of them from dreaming big.Leon wants to become a presidential guard. “I want to guard the President,” he told the Guyana Chronicle yesterday. He also wants to meet with President Granger and have a long talk with him.
And Devon? All along she had wanted to become a lawyer, but now she’s not so certain she can do it; not since her father died back in October.
“I wanna help people; I want to become a lawyer,” the teen said, despair evident in her voice.
As it is, she’s preparing to write six subjects at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations next June, but is in need of two text books – ‘Physical Education for You’ and ‘Agricultural Science for CSEC’.
She attends Manchester Secondary, and her brother attends the Corentyne Comprehensive.
CONGENITAL CATARACT
Online sources call the condition with which both children are smitten ‘congenital cataract’, but although Leon was born with it, doctors were able to make a diagnosis only two years after.
Health sources say children are rarely born with the disease, but if they do, it is quite possible that they inherited it genetically, or acquired it during the pre-natal stage of development.
And while some experts believe the best time for this type of cataract to be removed is between three weeks to six months after birth, poor Leon and Devon never stood a chance, since they were both diagnosed too late.
As a matter of fact, the doctors are now saying there’s very little they can do for Leon. He has just little sight left, as the disease has affected both eyes.
According to their mother, Cheryl, there’s every likelihood of both her children eventually going completely blind, but the boy’s condition is much worse than the girl’s. She said they’ve both had two surgeries already “to clean their eyes”.
POOR HOPES
“Dem say dem can’t do nothing for Leon…. Devon own lil’ bit more better; she does write lil bit,” the 41-year-old mother of five said.
Leon said he sometimes feels depressed about his illness, but teachers and friends are nothing but kind; as kind and as helpful as his own family. Anastasia Leitch, a friend of his, writes for him every day, he said.
Asked how he’s doing academically, Leon said with an impish grin, “I can’t see to read the books, but I does beat two persons in school.”
His mother has said that other than his failing sight, Leon lives an almost normal life, since she doesn’t have to do much for him at home.
“He plays as a normal child, but somebody has to write for him; somebody has to read for him. He never write; he never see to write,” Mrs. Bagot has said.
TOUGH GOING
Asked how she has been making out now that her husband is dead, Mrs. Bagot said although she’s finding it very hard, she has to stand strong, especially with two children preparing for CSEC.
Devon, on the other hand, is grateful to the President for providing a bus in her community, so that she and her siblings can travel to school freeof cost.
And like her brother, she too wants to have a tête-à-tête with President Granger: to ask his help with their medical condition.
MANY REASONS
According to allaboutvision.com, “congenital cataract occurs in newborn babies for many reasons, which can include inherited tendencies, infection, metabolic problems, diabetes, trauma, inflammation or drug reactions.”
The condition can occur if, during pregnancy, the child’s mother develops infections such as measles or rubella (the most common cause), chicken pox, cytomegalovirus, herpes simplex, herpes zoster, poliomyelitis, influenza, Epstein-Barr virus, syphilis and toxoplasmosis.
“Congenital cataract can be dense, milky white opacities in the lens of an infant’s eye(s) (which) prevent normal visual development if not removed… Cataract surgery may need to be performed as soon as possible, to ensure that vision is clear enough to allow normal development of your baby’s vision system,” the website says.
