The family of cancer patient Roll David thought the 16-year-old had escaped the worst after beating COVID-19 back in January but the teen died on Thursday after becoming re-infected with the virus.
David, who hailed from the Indigenous community of Nappi, in Region Nine, was diagnosed with leukemia five years ago and was in the midst of the battle with that disease when he succumbed to COVID-19 complications, his father, Magnus, told Stabroek News.
Minister of Health Dr Frank Anthony confirmed the teen’s death during Friday’s COVID-19 update.
According to Magnus, who also confirmed his son’s death and its cause, Roll died sometime after 5 pm on Thursday at the Infectious Disease Hospital at Liliendaal, where he had been a patient in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
With the exception of his son’s death, Magnus explained, their experience is eerily similar to the one the family faced back in January, 2021.
The man said since his son was diagnosed with leukemia, he needed to travel to Georgetown for treatment or whenever he needed blood. In January, he said, Roll began vomiting blood and his condition deteriorated, prompting the family to transport him to the Georgetown Public Hospital for treatment.
After spending some days at the hospital, he tested positive for COVID-19 and was transferred to the Intensive Care Unit at the Infectious Disease Hospital. David, however, recovered from the viral infection and was soon discharged.
The family returned back to Nappi where they spent most of their days at their farm cognisant that COVID-19 had not been eradicated and that David was more susceptible to the virus because of his leukemia diagnosis.
However, in the earlier part of June, Roll started vomiting blood again and was taken to the Lethem Hospital, where he was tested for COVID-19. However, his results were negative and he was transferred to Georgetown Public Hospital, where he spent a few days before testing positive for the virus around June 25. This was a surprise for the family knowing that re-infection is rare. Magnus noted that no member of the family ever tested positive for the virus except Roll, who was only exposed to other people when they travelled for the cancer treatment.
“It’s like the same thing happened again,” Magnus emotionally said, disclosing that he last saw his son the day before he got his results. According to Magnus, the last time, he spoke to Roll, he asked for water. Sometime after, he was told that his son would have to be placed on a ventilator.
“We tried so hard to keep him alive. Before he get sick we saved up to build a house but we used all that money for his treatment because we wanted him to live,” Magnus said before breaking down.
Masks
The teen is officially the third child to die to die from COVID-19 in Guyana since the start of the pandemic. The first was an 11-year-old girl, who died at the Georgetown Public Hospital in 2020. She also had cancer. The second was a 17-year-old who died in May of this year. David’s death takes the COVID death toll in Guyana to 508.
Anthony said that David was the only child receiving care in the ICU. There were three other children admitted in the hospital but this number has since increased.
“So here is a patient, relatively young with comorbidities and dying from COVID,” he said.
He advised that children with underlying health conditions wear medical masks because this will provide them with maximum protection against the virus as opposed to cloth masks.
Anthony said that the World Health Organization (WHO) has advised that children five years and older wear masks while and the United States’ Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has recommended same for children two years and older.
“Wearing masks can be different for children with medical conditions such as cancers and so forth. It is recommended that they wear medical types of masks because it will protect them from getting infected. Other children can wear the cloth mask so we should encourage children to wear masks, especially in the light that globally the Delta variant is
currently circulating and with this particular variant, anyone who is unvaccinated would be at risk, including children,” he said.
In Guyana as well as the rest of the world more children are getting infected and are being hospitalized with moderate to severe symptoms of the virus and so Anthony once again called for adults to be more responsible and adhere to preventative measures.
There is currently no COVID-19 vaccine available for children in Guyana although President Irfaan Ali has committed that once Guyana acquires such vaccines they would be made available.
