BABY Brody Dean van der Schyff, who turned one on Tuesday, March 15, has been admitted to theatre today, March 17, to remove foreign body from his bladder.
Three days after being born, he was admitted to hospital with neonatal sepsis and jaundice. After three unsuccessful lumbar punctures, doctors managed to test the spinal canal fluid and the result came back positive for meningitis.
ALSO READ: Help raise funds for baby Brody
He spend most of his life in hospital with continuous tests, scans, treatments and bacteria infections. Baby Brody was diagnosed with coloboma, heart defects, atresia choanae, growth retardation, genital abnormalities, and ear abnormalities (CHARGE) syndrome.
A CT scan revealed he had horseshoe kidneys among other pre-existing medical conditions.
Horseshoe kidney occurs in about one in 500 children. It occurs during fetal development as the kidneys move into their normal position (near the middle of the back, just below the ribs, on each side of the spine).
With horseshoe kidney, as the kidneys of the fetus rise from the pelvic area, they become attached (‘fuse’) together at the lower end or base, much closer to the front of the body than normal.
It’s more likely to hurt when there’s trauma to the abdomen, among other medical issues relating to it such as the swelling of a kidney due to a build-up of urine which happens when it cannot be drained to the bladder due to blockage.
“Last week we met with his nephrologist who was unable to tell what was on the ultrasound, therefore they needed to investigate. The surgeon also had reason to believe that it could be contributing towards his discomfort and infections.
While in theatre, they will be running a few tests around his kidneys and doing blood tests to find out the cause of a few other concerns that the nephrologist and pediatric surgeon had with some of his recent test results,” said his mother, Samantha van der Schyff.
Going forward, Brody will have to see the nephrologist every three to six months. “Unfortunately we are facing a 35% co-payment on the entire hospital bill due to Parklands Hospital not being on the medical aid network list for ‘day surgeries’.
We have spoken to the medical aid, but there is no hospital we can use that has the equipment needed for the procedure,” said Samantha.
Current outstanding medical bills, excluding February and March, is sitting at about R10 300. His monthly expenses are R7 800.
Some of these include his on-going treatment for his kidneys which is R660 per month and once a month pediatric visits are R950, due to his compromised immune system he often gets sick. Neither are covered by medical aid.
“Providing care for Brody is a job on its own, but not working is not an option. We both work full time jobs, not only to support our family of six, but for Brody’s medical expenses.
I have been fortunate enough to work from hospital every time he gets admitted, even if it means staying up until 02:00 to reach my deadlines.
We desperately want to try find him a way forward as we can no longer carry on like this, we have spent every second week in hospital the last two months again and it’s mentally, physically and financially draining.
We just want Brody to be pain-free and to start achieving his milestones at home,” said Samantha. “The last 12 months have been an absolute roller coaster. I have been suffering with anxiety, sleep deprivation and depression.
Every day is a constant fight, you wake up not knowing where you might end up. Some days it’s so difficult, I can’t even talk to people. All I want to do is cry. Knowing that there is no cure for our little Brody shatters my heart,” she said.
She also said, “We literally live hand to mouth. We’ve now had to apply for subsidies as we are just not coming out with our salaries. We don’t want to depend on fundraisers and donations but lately they are what is carrying us through to hopefully something more promising for Brody.
Thank you so much to everyone who has been involved with the assistance of donations and support with this cause, we truly appreciate everything you have done and are doing.”
For more information, visit their Facebook page ‘Brody in Charge’, or banking details to make a donation: S Venter, Capitec Bank, account number: 1637374427, branch code: 470010, reference: copay.
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