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Kensington family fears future as toddler continues to fight illness

A Kensington family fears for the future after their two-year-old son was diagnosed with a rare illness affecting his organs, such as the liver and kidneys.

Zaid Mayet was diagnosed with Hereditary Type 1 Typrosinemia when he was six months old.

He will be three on November 3.

His mother, Mrs Miriam Mayet, said that this condition is affecting the functioning of Zaid’s major organs.

“His condition means that Zaid’s liver is unable to break down an essential amino acid, tyrosine. This build-up of tyrosine in the body becomes toxic, damaging major organs including the liver, kidneys and spleen,” she said.

Mrs Mayet said that it was a shock for her and her husband, Muhammad, to find out about their son’s illness.

“He was not a crying child or a sick child. He would have flu now and again, like a normal child. When he was six months old he had problems with breathing. We took him to the doctors. We thought he was asthmatic. The doctor said he did not have it. She noticed that his liver was bigger than what it should be. That is when the tests started. They initially thought it was cancer because they said his liver had a growth on it. The tests revealed that his liver was not producing calcium, making his ribcage compress the chest organs,” said Mrs Mayet.

She added that they were told there were only three people who suffer from this condition, two in Witbank and Zaid.

Mrs Mayet said that Zaid’s medication cost about R56 000 per month of which the medical aid pays for the R50 000. She added that medical aid officials have informed them that it will pay only a half of the amount.

“We were also advised that due to the low demand for this medication, the price will go up. We are not sure by how much but what we know is, it will go up,” she said.

She added that after one month on his medication, Zaid has shown a huge improvement.

“For the first time he is happy and able to experience life as a child,” she said.

Mrs Mayet asked anyone who can help to contact them.

“We do not know how to deal with this issue. We love our boy and we are helping him but we do not know how. We also do not know how to deal with getting his medication or to deal with the medical aid pronouncement,” she said.

The couple can be contacted on Mmayet1982@gmail.com

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