Child Of The Month – November 2012

Child Of The Month

By Rich Petersen

Melania Díaz López

 

child-nov12This very elegant little 6-year old is Melania Díaz López. Melania is the oldest of three children, including a new little brother Mauricio who is just three months old.

Melania lives in Cedros, an area next to Ixtlahuacán, with her parents and siblings. As we at Niños Incapacitados have often seen here at Lakeside, Melania was healthy up until about age 3-1/2 when she suddenly developed a left hemiparesis (left-side paralysis) and at the same time began having convulsions—and not just one or two convulsive episodes per day, but up to one every 15 minutes.

Her parents, Marla and Miguel Angel, took her immediately to the Hospital Civil in Guadalajara where a myriad of tests were run on the little girl, but nothing conclusive was diagnosed even though she continued to have convulsions and the unilateral paralysis. Mom and Dad had heard of a naturopathic doctor in Guanajuato and began to take Melania there. Think of the travel time and petrol expense!

Fortunately this doctor was able to diminish the incidence and severity of the convulsions, but the travel time, etc. was becoming too much for the budget, and that is when they brought the child to Niños Incapacitados,

By that time they had changed doctors at the Hospital Civil and were getting better results but still the expense of the anti-convulsive medications was beyond reach. Melania takes three different medications every day, at a cost of between 800 and 1500 pesos per month, and needs an EEG every 3-4 months to assess brain wave activity.

You can see by the photograph taken at our last general meeting how alert and well Melania looks. She is in school and learning how to read. (When we asked her what her favorite subject was, she said “recess.”) Her parents are so relieved that their child is improving and leading a more normal life. She has now gone more than three months without having a convulsive episode and of course we hope that continues to be the case.

To meet other of “our” children and to learn more about what Niños Incapacitados does, please join us the second Thursday of each month for our members’ meeting. 10:00 a.m. at the Hotel Real de Chapala in La Floresta. A special and continued THANK YOU to all of you who have donated to our “Sustaining Niños” pledge program which allows us to continue helping sick children here at Lakeside, and a gentle reminder that it is time to renew those pledges for the upcoming year. Visit our website to learn how: www.programaninos.org

 

 


For more information about Lake Chapala visit: chapala.com


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