The Essequibo toddlers, who were suffering from the mystery illness that claimed the life of their six-year-old sister, have been discharged from the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH).
Two-year-old Destiny Sandy and 18-month-old Devine Sandy are now back in the comfort at their home at Karia Karia, Essequibo.
Their older sister, Akila, who was to the first one to fall ill on July 24, with fever and pain in her feet, succumbed in the Intensive Care Unit of the GPH a few days later.
The results of a post-mortem examination conducted on Akila’s remains failed to determine her cause of death. As a result, samples were sent overseas for toxicology testing and the results are expected back in two weeks.
The children’s mother Wendy Sandy had told Stabroek News that Akila was first taken to the Supenaam Health Centre, where she received treatment for the pain but it did not help.
Subsequently, Destiny also started experiencing similar symptoms and was “screaming for her foot too, so we took them both to Suddie, where they run blood tests,” the mother stated. She added that the results all came back negative and their illness was not diagnosed.
Wendy said that after doctors at the Suddie Hospital recognized that Akila was not responding to treatment, they transferred both her and Destiny to the GPH.
The girls’ father, Phillip Sandy had told this newspaper that there were fears that “something was wrong with [Akila’s] brain, so they did a brain scan but there was nothing wrong with her brain. Then, they did an X-ray and they did a lot of blood test…”
While these tests were being conducted, Akila’s was growing weaker and she was transferred to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) where she slipped into a coma and died. In that period, Devine began displaying similar symptoms and was also hospitalised. However, the health of the two younger sisters improved and they were deemed well enough to go home.
