(Trinidad Guardian) Six-week-old Ricardo Vijay is in desperate need of surgery. Vijay has been diagnosed with Dandy-Walker Syndrome. His family is pleading to the public to help fund the TT$25,000 needed for Ricardo’s surgery which will give him a normal life. In an interview Ricardo’s mother, Daramdai Vijay, said he was diagnosed with Dandy-Walker Syndrome shortly after his birth when doctors noticed swelling in his head, caused by a buildup of fluid around his brain. Vijay, a Guyanese, said she came to T&T on the advice of her sister, Shamilla, to seek treatment for her son.
She said Ricardo has been at the Eric Williams Medical Science Centre for two weeks, while her husband and herself and their family tried to raise the money. Vijay said the surgery was needed to implant a tube from the child’s skull to his stomach to safely drain the fluid and this could only be performed at the Community Seventh Day Adventist Hospital, Cocorite. She said Ricardo’s condition was steadily getting worse with more fluid building up around his brain and feared if the surgery was not performed soon he would be too ill to take the surgery.
Vijay became pregnant after 12 years of marriage and Ricardo is her first child. She said when he was born in Guyana, doctors told her family Ricardo would not survive and if he did he would not be a normal baby. Vijay and her husband are worried about the condition of their first and only child. Anyone who is interested in helping Ricardo can contact Vijay at 782-5736 or her sister, Shamilla, at 366-3683.
Dandy-Walker Syndrome is a congenital brain malformation involving the cerebellum (the part of the brain that controls movement) and the fluids around it. Symptoms often occur in early infancy and include progressive enlargement of the skull and slow motor development. It is associated with disorders of the central nervous system and malformations of the heart, face, limbs, fingers and toes. Treatment for individuals with the syndrome is to have a special tube implanted in the skull to drain out any excess fluid, to reduce intracranial pressure and control swelling. The effects of Dandy-Walker Syndrome on intellectual development vary.