Little girl needs help to fight unknown condition
At only 15 months old she has spent more time in hospitals than most people would in their entire life.
LYDENBURG – Little Miané Swart is a friendly, big-eyed, curly haired toddler. But unlike other one-year-olds she can, at any given time, have a severe seizure that lasts anything from three minutes to an hour.
At only 15 months old she has spent more time in hospitals than most people would in their entire life.
The two paediatric neurologist who have treated her are yet to discover the cause of her epileptic fits.
Miané’s grandmother, Ms Eileen van As, who lives in Lydenburg, contact Steelburger/Lydenburg News for help regarding her granddaughter’s severe epilepsy.
“My daughter Joleen and granddaughter live in Witbank. My husband and I do everything we can for them, but they desperately need funds for Miané’s treatment and to find a possible cure for the seizures. My daughter had to leave her job to take care of her on a full-time basis,” she said.
Van As told the newspaper that Miané was a perfectly normal and healthy baby.
“It all started when she was seven months old. In June 2015 she stopped breathing in her mother’s arms. She turned blue in her face and did not move at all. Joleen called Miane’s father, Rickey Greyling, and he immediately administered CPR. She eventually started to breathe again.”
Miané was rushed to Life Cosmos Hospital in Witbank where she was admitted for what the doctor thought was congestion of the lungs. Later that evening she started to have seizures.
She was put on three different medications and oxygen but continued to have seizures. By the end of the third day, she had had over 60 seizures.
She was then transferred to Eugene Marais hospital in Pretoria. Since her epilepsy started, she had been treated by no less than four specialists including the two paediatric neurologists.
“Neurologists don’t really want to get involved. They told us that they usually treat children from four and above. Miané is only a year old,” said Van As.
A paediatric neurologist who treated Miane in Cape Town, Dr Sally Ackermann, wrote a letter stating that Miané has required multiple hospital admissions for prolonged seizure clusters and has been refractory to a number of anti-epileptic medications.
“The cause of her epilepsy is unknown but workup is ongoing. She continues to require specialist paediatric neurology follow up and is currently under the care of the department of paediatric neurology at Steve Biko Academic Hospital.”
Not only does this little girl need financial aid to help her to possibly live a normal life, she is also in need of an oxygen tank.
If anyone is willing to help this little girl they can contact van As on 082-584-3030 or make donations to her trust fund:
Miané Swart, Standard Bank, account number 086 383 000, branch code 052546 and reference 082 533 7293.
