Seven-year-old Colleacia Harcourt, whose parents had pleaded with the public for financial support for the removal of a malignant brain tumour, died yesterday at her Litchfield, West Coast Berbice home.
Stabroek News had previously reported that Colleacia was diagnosed with the tumour about two months ago after she started experiencing severe headaches. However, the tumour was spreading rapidly and her doctors were calling for emergency surgery to save her life.
A week before school closed for the Easter vacation, Colleacia started experiencing headaches and vomiting. She was taken to the St Joseph Mercy Hospital for an MRI and it was there that her parents found out that she had a tumour.
The type of medical attention the child had needed is not available in Guyana.
The estimated fee for the surgery was $7 million but this figure would have increased since it did not cover possible complications, additional procedures and additional days of hospitalization.
About two weeks after Colleacia was hospitalized at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH), her condition worsened and she became partially paralysed on the right side of her body while there was restricted movement on her left side.
Speaking to this newspaper yesterday, Shonetta Harcourt, mother of the dead girl, said the child’s death is a huge loss to the family since everyone was still hoping for the best. The woman added that her daughter was discharged from the GPH on Monday since doctors had indicated to her that there was nothing else they could do in Guyana to help her. Grieving, Shonetta further explained that when Colleacia was discharged from the hospital her eyes weren’t even opening.
However, before she took her last breath at about 5:30 yesterday afternoon, the child opened her eyes and her right hand which had been paralysed moved. Her mother also said that although she wasn’t speaking she was showing some sort of improvement in her movements before her death.
The family however believes that if Colleacia had received more monetary assistance from the public or even the government in an efficient way she would have been able to live longer but unfortunately they said she didn’t because “God knows what is best”. The child was scheduled to leave Guyana for Colombia on Saturday for the surgery. But she was only able to acquire approximately $2M out of the $7M required from the public.
