Gansham and Besham Sohan, the two young brothers who were flown overseas for life-saving medical treatment after they were severely burnt at their Corentyne, Berbice home more than two months ago, are ready to return home after several successful surgeries.
Non-governmental organisation Saving Hands Emergency Aid (SHEA) made the announcement via a Facebook post on Wednesday.
“Eleven weeks after the Sohan brothers arrived in the United States for life-saving medical treatment, they are now ready to return home to Guyana,” SHEA said.
This recent development, according to the organisation, was made possible following the completion of their surgeries.
“The brothers received countless surgeries to combat their many injuries including skin grafts, and surgery to reopen Gansham’s mouth, which was closing due to his burns, and causing difficulties for him to eat,” SHEA noted.
The organisation des-cribed the brothers as “true fighters and survivors”.
Gansham, 4, and Besham, 1, were burnt on the evening of August 16th at their Number 48 Village, Corentyne, Berbice home.
The children’s mother, who singlehandedly maintains them and their four siblings, was in a hammock breastfeeding the youngest child. She lit a small fire for the smoke to get rid of mosquitoes when another of the children reportedly threw dry grass on the fire, causing it to spread rapidly.
As a result, both Gansham’s and Besham’s clothing caught afire.
SHEA, in a previous post, had said that treatment for the brothers was not available in Guyana and therefore a decision was made to have them taken overseas.
The cost to medevac them was US$45,000, equivalent to $9.4 million.
Whilst overseas, the brothers were admitted at a hospital in Texas which had agreed to treat them for free.
SHEA thanked an aunt of the two brothers, Lilowtie Goberdhan, and their mother for assisting to care for them during their stay in the United States. Goberdhan is a licensed nurse.
Despite their return home, the organisation noted that the brothers will need to travel back to the US in the coming month for continued treatment.
In an effort to make this a success, SHEA is pleading with the public for their continuous support. “Please donate so that we can see them through treatment completion,” SHEA stated.
Donations can be made to https://savinghandsemergencyaid.org/Gansham-and-Beham-Sohan or via the organisation’s Facebook page.