A woman afraid of losing her daughter to a brain tumour is seeking financial aid from the public to cover costs for a surgery in the United States.
“Her life depends on immediate surgery, but we just don’t have the money to pay for it,” a visibly-distressed Donna Moore told Stabroek News. Her daughter, Natasha Moore, 31, who is a registered patient of the Neurosurgical Clinic of the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH), has been diagnosed with a large petrous-posterior Fossa-Cervical Meningioma. A letter from the GPH’s Director of Medical and Professional Services Dr Madan Rambarran, shown by Donna to Stabroek News, said that Natasha was presented to the clinic with a history of severe headaches, aggravated by coughing which started in 2008. The letter further stated that on June 23, a CT scan of the head was done which revealed the possibility of multiple meningiomas.
Natasha, who had a consultation with Professor Ivor Crandon, was later recommended to undergo urgent surgical treatment overseas, preferably at the Center Specialized for Skull Base Surgery in the United States.
Natasha, who was a teacher at the Happy Hearts Nursery School, has had to be absent as a result of her illness. She has been bedridden for some two weeks now and lies hoping for a miracle as she tries to fight her rapidly-deteriorating condition.
According to the young woman’s mother, Natasha is fighting with all her might to stay alive. Donna said that for a mother, it is difficult to watch her child endure the pain she is forced to encounter every day. “It hard, but she fighting with everything she got to stay alive and it hard fuh any mother sit back and look at deh child suffer like that,” she said.
Donna explained that her daughter was involved in a vehicular accident two years ago. She sustained severe head injuries after being hit off a motorcycle on which she was a pillion rider. Although Natasha was wearing a crash helmet at the time of the accident, she nonetheless sustained injuries because of the impact of her fall.
About a year after the accident, Donna said Natasha began complaining of sporadic headaches, which worsened in severity and frequency by mid-last year. By the end of 2009, Donna said, her daughter’s condition continued declining and she was plagued by decreased vision, slurred speech and two episodes of loss of consciousness. More recently, Natasha has been suffering from bilateral limb weakness associated with an unsteady gait.
At present, the young woman is unable to help herself as she remains sick in bed. Donna, who lives at Norton Street, in Georgetown, said that she is finding it difficult to travel every day to her daughter’s home at Turkeyen to take care of her. She added that she would have preferred saving that daily passage for her daughter’s surgery. The woman said that she too is unable to work as she has to be at her daughter’s bedside to care for her needs as they arise.
When asked about the possibility of relocating to her daughter’s residence, Donna said Natasha’s two children, aged 15 and seven, live with their mother. As a result, it would be difficult to accommodate her. Additionally, the children are also attending school in the Turkeyen area, making relocation to the city difficult as well. Donna said one of Natasha’s neighbours frequently assists in the care of the children.
Donna said she does not know the cost of the surgery as a quotation is yet to be sent from the Center in the United States, where the surgery is expected to be performed. “It’s hard but it’s my child and I have to do it. I can’t afford to give up on her,” she said.
Persons interested in helping Natasha Moore are asked to make contributions to Republic Bank account 100-4902 or account 0015-33256.
