Young girl suffers a stroke

For Dean de Agrella, a father of two, every day has become a battle to remain positive.

The Malvern East resident has two daughters, Cassandra (15) and Maiya (5).

He and his fiancée, Heila Ross, and the children were going about their normal lives until September 22, when Cassandra suffered a stroke.

“We had been out-and-about that Sunday having fun and when they got home the girls were running around irritating each other, as they often do,” said Dean.

“Then Maiya came running to me and said there was something wrong with Cassandra.

“We found her sitting on the bath, just staring.”

Dean pushed the panic button and asked the security company to contact an ambulance.

“The ambulance did not, however, arrive, so we put her in the car and rushed to the Bedford Clinic,” he said.

“Cassandra was admitted and remained there until September 27, when we ran out of funds to pay.”

The family does not have medical aid.

He then tried to have Cassandra admitted to the Charlotte Maxeke Hospital, but the hospital would not take her.

Eventually they managed to have her admitted to Edenvale Hospital, and she was transferred there.

Currently she is undergoing treatment at the hospital and Dean does not know how long she will remain there.

Cassandra cannot talk and Dean told the GCN that when he visits her she just looks at him and smiles.

The family has managed to help her to start walking again, which Dean sees as good progress.

Cassandra’s friends from Assumption Convent School have also rallied to their friend’s side to be with her.

However, when Cassandra is released from hospital, Dean said, it is going to take months of therapy to get her functioning normally again.

Therapy that the family cannot afford.

Dean also told the GCN that he is trying to locate other parents who have undergone the same experience as he has.

“No one seems to know anything about strokes in children and I am trying to get as much information as possible about it,” he said.

“Surely there must be a doctor who has dealt with this type of thing before and can offer us advice and assistance.”

Dean admits that Facebook has been his support group, as many people have offered him advice on the forum.

The school community at Assumption Convent, where he works, has also come to the family’s aid.

“I wish there was some sort of support group which I could join to help us through this,” Dean said.

Cassandra lost her mother, Maria, and stepfather, Lucas van Vuuren, in a truck accident, in February, this year, and Dean is wondering if the tragedy might have something to do with the stroke.

“Every day she looks at her mother’s photographs on Facebook,” he said.

“Cassandra, a Grade Nine pupil, is an avid photographer and also loves collecting rocks.

“She loves photographing plants and we were waiting for the flowers to start blooming at Emmarentia Dam, so that we could visit and she could take as many plant photos as she wished.”

Cassandra had also told her dad, on the morning of the stroke, that she wanted to take part in the next cycling event in which he, a cyclist, participated.

“I will make sure she attends the event, even if I have to push her in a wheelchair,” Dean said.

“This has been a life-changing, heart-sore event in our lives and the only thing that matters now is that Cassandra gets well.”

A Facebook page has been set up for Cassandra, which people are welcome to visit at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Well-Wishers-And-Messages-For-Cassandra/370482083055261

If you can assist Dean in any way with regard to either help with therapy, or support and advice, contact him on 083 601 0111.