Serious illness brings 13-year-old grief

A mother is searching for answers while at the same soliciting the assistance of the public to help with her daughter’s medical expenses.{{more}}

Velda Ralph also hopes the stares and constant ridiculing of her daughter, Tiffany, would cease.

“People always staring and pointing at her, and I don’t like it,” the distraught mother said.

Tiffany, 13, was recently diagnosed with Nephrotic Syndrome and System Lupus Erythematosus (SLE), both of which cause swelling of her Kidney and Liver, resulting in an enlarged stomach.

The Calliaqua resident told SEARCHLIGHT on Wednesday that Tiffany began experiencing problems in March this year and they have gotten worse over time. “I notice she foot (feet) started to swell and then she belly started to get really big,” she noted.

Since that time, the unemployed mother of four has taken her daughter to the hospital numerous times, but says that she has not been given any concrete information about how to treat her daughter’s ailment or if she may need to seek further treatment overseas.

“They just admitting her every time she go down there (Milton Cato Memorial Hospital) and just ah geh she pure tablets,” she stressed. Velda says that the pills are doing nothing for her daughter, as her condition worsens.

Most times, she can’t afford to pay for Tiffany’s medication, she said.

“I really want her to get better because this is a serious thing. People always ah ask if she breed (pregnant), but me does tell she don’t study them…” she said in a low pitched voice.

Visibly showing signs of discomfort as she sat, a soft-spoken Tiffany said once she sits for a long period of time, she experiences pain.

The first form student of the St Clair Dacon School has had to miss most of year because of her condition. She revealed that it is very difficult for her to sleep at nights and that her feet are swollen. “I use to get teased at school and I does feel bad…Me ain’t even sleep good lastnight because I been waking up every minute,” she revealed.

Tiffany says she can only sleep on her sides because the pain is just too excruciating for her to sleep in any other position. The young girl also complained of shortness of breath when she walks.