Twenty-four-year-old Analisa Latchman grew up having headaches but they were nothing a pain tablet could not take care of, until recently when they became so severe she had to quit her job and life as she knew it was no more.
“It was about six months ago that the headaches became so severe and I started to get these blackouts and I couldn’t function like I did before,” Latchman, a single mother of one and a resident of Lima, Essequibo Coast, told Sunday Stabroek.
The worsening conditions forced Latchman to visit the doctor and a computerised tomography (CT) scan revealed that her left eye was becoming sunken and pressing against her brain, resulting in the severe headache.
She is unsure of what the condition is called but recalled that when she was younger it was noticed that her left eye was “going in” and part of her forehead became indented and it was felt that it was because of her eyesight.
Following the CT scan, Latchman said, the doctors started giving her pain tablets, but they were no longer easing the pain.
And then about a month ago she started to get constant blackouts. Neurosurgeon Dr Amarnauth Dukhi explained to her that she needs surgery to fix the problem. The surgery will entail an implant being inserted to separate the eye from the brain. The implant has to be made overseas and the results of a second CT scan have since been sent so that the implant can be made.
Latchman said she is unsure how much the surgery, scheduled to be done at the St Joseph Mercy Hospital, will cost, but it will be over $1 million, a sum she and her parents cannot afford.
Looking back, Latchman noted that she always had headaches and her parents could never understand why. They visited many doctors with their only child and while she started wearing glasses for the sunlight they were told that her eyesight was fine.
“No one could say why my eye was going in and why I was getting the headaches, but they used to come and go and once I drink the tablet it used to help,” she said.
When the headaches became so severe that she was forced to quit her job as a sales representative at a store, she became unable to properly take care of her five-year-old daughter.
“You know with school out and so I can’t really help her right now. Sometimes I would lie down but at other times I can’t even lie down because of the pain. I can’t even sit down it just too much…,” she said.
She is grateful for the support of her parents and is unsure how she would have made it without them.
She remembers the first time she lost consciousness. “I was standing, and I started to feel dizzy, so I went and sit down and then I just get blackout. My parents took me to the hospital, and they gave me an injection and I regain consciousness and was sent home. Since then it started to happen more frequent,” she shared.
Initially, after being told that she needed an operation, Latchman was worried, especially because she is a single parent. But after the fear came relief at the fact that she now knows that is the problem and how it could be fixed.
“I was very relieved that they found something that could stop what is happening. I am scared but I believe everything would be okay after the surgery,” she said.
She said Dr Duhki informed her that without the surgery she could eventually lose her left eye and the left side of her face would become more indented. He is unclear as to what caused the problem but posited it could be something she was born with, which was not diagnosed and as she grew became more evident.
Latchman longs for the opportunity to live a normal life again. The young woman said she just “wants to do the things I used to do before again”.
She said she knows her condition is taking a toll on her parents, but they bottle up their pain “because they think if they show it, it would hurt me more”.
Latchman was once married at the age of 18 but separated from her husband when her daughter was just one year old and that period she said was very touchy.
“I was very young, and you know I fell in love, maybe I wanted to experience life. I guess I was hurry, but it did not work out. Looking back, I believe I should have waited but I am still happy I have my daughter,” she said.
Her parents welcomed her home with open arms and Latchman said without them she is not sure how she would have endured her illness as they not only help her, but they take care their granddaughter, whom they dote over.
“I just want to have my life back. I don’t want to spend my days crying and in pain. I want to go out and work to support my daughter. I just want a normal life,” she said.
She is appealing for persons who can, to assist her in raising the money for the surgery.
“If someone can help me and make a difference in my life when I recover and I am fine then I also can make a difference in someone’s life,’ she said.
Persons who are desirous of assisting Latchman can contact her on 651-3914.
