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New lease of life as child gets support after Monitor story
Ms Milika Anguko and her child after receiving a wheelchair that was donated by a good samaritan in Kampala at the weekend. PHOTO/CLEMENT ALUMA
What you need to know:
Ms Milika Anguko, whose daughter, Blessing Osutaru, also has a hip bone anomaly, on Wednesday, expressed gratitude to Dr Joseph Sserumaga for coming to her rescue
The mother of an eight-year-old girl with downing syndrome, whose plight was recently published in Daily Monitor, has received assistance.
Ms Milika Anguko, whose daughter, Blessing Osutaru, also has a hip bone anomaly, on Wednesday, expressed gratitude to Dr Joseph Sserumaga for coming to her rescue.
Dr Sserumaga had invited her to bring her daughter to Kampala for free medical assessment and treatment.
“Thank you very much Daily Monitor for writing about the plight of my child. I also thank Dr Sserumaga and his team for reaching out to us even when they did not know us. May the good Lord reward you so abundantly,” Ms Anguko stated in an interview with this publication.
Ms Anguko said after the connections she got, she was delighted to speak to Dr Sserumaga.
“The child has now been given a modern wheelchair. She is undergoing several assessments and tests, which are fully supported by the doctor and his team. My hope is now being restored because I see that my child will regain her health and live a good life after the treatments,” she said.
Dr Sserumaga said they have provided a wheelchair for the child, which can also act as a bed .
“We repeated the X-ray examinations and went ahead to seek expert opinion from Mulago National Referral Hospital orthopedic department and they said they could not handle it. But they advised us to go to Comprehensive Rehabilitation Services in Uganda (CoRSU). This is the next plan now for the child,” he explained.
He further revealed that they were advised at CoRSU that based on the underlying condition that the child suffers from (down syndrome), she would not benefit from the surgery because her muscles are weak.
The World Health Organisation says down syndrome occurs when an individual has an extra partial (or whole) copy of chromosome 21. It is not yet known why the syndrome occurs.
The syndrome can affect the development of an individual’s brain and body, hence affecting normal growth.
Background. The family is financially unable to foot the child’s medical bill. There is now hope that the child can get proper treatment. The family says once she is treated, she will start school.
