Amin Thompson By Dale McNish,
Freelance Writer
WESTERN BUREAU-
THE LIFE of a 15-year old boy hangs in the balance while his financially strapped parents battle against the odds to find a little over a million dollars to pay doctors for an operation.
Amin Thompson is in urgent need of brain surgery if he is to live, a fact that is plaguing his anxious family who says it will take US$40,000 (approximately J$1 million) to have the operation done at the Miami Neuroscience Centre.
"He is stable, but his condition is deteriorating slowly... you can feel the pressure building up in his head and anytime now it can rupture," said Lauris Carrol, a social worker at the University Hospital of the West Indies, where Amin is a patient.
Amin has been diagnosed with an arterial venous malformation of the brain, which require immediate Knife Radiosurgery. He was scheduled to undergo medical consultation on February 5 and surgery February 6 in Miami, but is yet to leave the island.
According to Dr. Alan Smith, consultant neurosurgeon at the University Hospital, Amin's brain illness has resulted in "marked neurological disability." Treatment of this condition requires neuro-radiological intervention in the form of embolisation, which is not available in Jamaica.
Amin's unemployed mother, Joyce Stennett, of Mount Peto in Hanover, told The Gleaner the hospital will begin treatment if an initial amount of $US16, 800 ($756,000) is paid over.
An account opened at the Bank of Novia Scotia to garner financial support has so far amassed $331,000, up to last Friday. An additional $900,000 is needed to offset medical expenses. The account number is 40061.
"I recognise that these are very hard economic times. This is my only child and I don't want him to die, I will be grateful for whatever assistance the public can give to us for him to make the trip before it is too late," said a distressed Ms. Stennett.
The damage to Amin's brain occurred when he was much younger, when he reportedly fell on the right side of his head. This later affected his hearing and vision.
"Late last year he began to complain of severe pain in his eyes, I took him to four specialists and after doing a brain scan he was diagnosed with the illness," the 35-year old mother said.
Amin has been admitted to hospital since late January. "Seeing him lying down everyday can't do nothing is heart rending and it cause me to cry a lot, right now doctors have to be giving me pills to sleep," Ms. Stennett said.
Amin, a student at the Knockalva High School has been out of the classroom since January, as his condition has deteriorated.
