International help for Children's Medical Work
Ever since its foundation IHC had brought over individual children for special treatment as well as parties of children for recuperative holidays. The total number of these probably amount to over a hundred but below are some accounts of those I was personally involved with which gives a good idea of the work being done. During the late 70s and 80s the cost of this type of work became prohibitively high and it was because of this that rather than bring children over we began to send money out to specific small projects in places where we could help. Thus several of the current Margaret McEwen Trust projects listed on a previous page were started in this way as IHC projects.
Urte Gomec (written in 1962)
Turkey, once the heart of an empire stretching from
the Indian Ocean to the walls of Vienna, has recently been the scene of a petty
revolution in which the army overthrew the existing government, and
successfully took control of the country. Some people were imprisoned and many
others lost their money-amongst them Urte's father, which is why we were asked
to help this little boy. Urte was
paralysed with polio when he was two. His parents, who had waited five years for
a child of their own, sacrificed everything including their house, to give him
the very best treatment. But in the political chaos they lost all their money,
and so International Help for Children were asked to help.
Urte was sent to Queen Mary's Childrens' Hospital at
Carshalton, where he was put in a ward with five other children. He has some
toys and all the hospital staff keep him happy with regular visits.
Above his bed is a large picture of his father. As
treatment takes eighteen months, he has now forgotten how to speak Turkish-much
to his parents embarrassment when they visited him, but he will soon learn again
when he gets home. home.
The treatment follows the " Sister Kenny" method, in which
the posture of the body must always be maintained in such a way as to prevent
semiparalysed limbs growing at different rates. The children have a strap
around their waists which holds them supine on the mattress, and their feet are
firmly fixed to a board at the end of the bed. Even when sitting they must be
strapped to the chair. There is a
schoolmistress who comes to the ward every day to give simple instruction. The
children receive two hours or more of physiotherapy daily, but in spite of the
difficult life they all seemed very happy.
Urte is now getting much better. He can use all his limbs to a certain extent,
and there is a good chance that he will make a complete recovery.
Tato
(written in 1962)
In Greece, as in Sicily, there is terrible
poverty amongst the rural people.
Much of it has resulted from the Greek civil war
communist attempt to seize power, which, although it ended in 1951, has left an
indelible mark upon the country. The story of Tato is typical of the country's
suffering. Tato came to us in 1959 at the
age of ten. He had lost the sight of one eye,
and the other was failing-the result, not of an accident, but of starvation. He
had keratomalacia, a condition due to gross deficiency of vitamin A. The family
were indeed terribly poor and probably lived off bread alone. Fortunately, in
Moorfields Hospital the damage was arrested, and he can now see quite well out
of one eye.
Maria Myrodia from
Greece - (1963)
In 1963 we were asked by Lady Norton and the
Anglo-Hellenic Association if we would arrange for a Hole-in the-Heart operation
at Hammersmith Hospital. It concerned four year old Maria Myrodia of Athens,
who was lying very ill, without hope of recovery. Her parents were not well off,
so the money for the flight to England was provided by a Greek garage owner who
knew the family. At Hammersmith, after a week's tests and examinations, the
Surgeon-in-charge decided the operation could only be done in two parts, and
asked I.H.C. if they would be prepared to bring Maria over a second time. Four
weeks later, having recovered from the first operation, she went home much
improved. This year the surgeon was visiting Greece and called to see her. He
later wrote to I.H.C. to say that she was ready for the second part. Maria will
shortly be arriving in England again.
Anna Maria Ascione - (1964)
Anna Maria Ascione came over from Naples aged eight and a half in 1955, and
was taken to Moorfields Eye Hospital for removal of a large cancerous growth
over the left eye. Every two years Anna (provided with free air travel by an
anonymous Italian donor) has come over for further treatment and check-up.
Recently she has spent nine months attending the Plastic Surgical Unit at Queen
Victoria Hospital
East Grinstead, and is now recovering from a squint operation. The eye is so
much better that it is scarcely noticeable if she wears glasses. The surgeons at
Moorfields and East Grinstead obviously feel that the results are a great
achievement for British surgery. Anna is eighteen years old and will be
returning to Naples again in the near future. As a special celebration treat she
was taken to the Beatles film (by her own request). The total cost of the
hospital beds over the period she has been here amounts to £600, All
professional fees were donated.
Yasar Gerkesli -
from Ankara (1968)
Early in October a request was
received from Turkey for a drug called Methotrexate to help prolong the
life of a little boy with leukaemia. The request came to us from Save
The Children Fund, who themselves had boon contacted by Public Services
International. Some two weeks passed during which time an
official medical report was being prepared and then eventually reached
me on the 17th October. I managed to obtain 300
tablet from Lederle, the company who manufacture
them. Although they had none in their London Office,
they went and collected some from the wholesalers.
Contact was then made with the Turkish Embassy who said they would be
able to send it through diplomatic channels on the next plane to Ankara.
Argyro Moysiadou
(1970)
This girl, who is particularly intelligent and attractive, was born without
legs but is otherwise physieally
pe:rfect. She is most anxious to follow a career which will enable her to earn
a living but at the moment she is using artificial legs made in Athens which
cause her pain and discomfort. Lady Stewart (our contact in Athens)
has therefore asked us to arrange for Argyro to see a specialist at
Roehavyton hospital. If two artificial legs can be made for
her at the special Limb Fitting Centre, costing aprroximately £300,
Aglyro will face a much happier future. She has
already finished growing so these limbs can be used by her for many
years. It will be necessary for Argyro to stay at least 8 weeks in
London and we expect her to arrive in September this
year. Through the kind efforts of our Richmond
Committee we are hoping to find a family to offer hospitality. Although
Argyro will occasionally need a wheel chair, her knowledge of
English and her charming personality will make it much easier to find a
suitable family. Also our Richmond Commiittee is most
favourably placed as regards Roehampton Hospital and the daily journey
should not involve any problems.
Demetrius Cacayannis aged 11
(1970)
He suffered a serious spinal injury two years ago
when he fell off a parapet. He not only damaged his spine, but suffered
internal injuries which caused him to be incontinent for a considerable period. Gradually his condition
improved particularly because he is a very intelligent and cooperative child.
He can now walk with the aid of 2 sticks but he gets tired very easily.
His parents although of Greek extraction are refugees as they had been abducted
to Albania as children and later taken to Russia where Demetrius and his sister
were born. Eventually they managed to get back to Greece where over
the last eight years they are trying to rebuild their lives again.
Mr Cacayannis health is very bad and he therefore cannot work so the family
depends on the mother's earnings as a home help to a very rich Greek family.
It was this family who paid for the return air fare to enable Demetrius to come to
London to be examined by
an orthopaedic specialist at Great Ormond Street Childrens' Hospital. In order to save
the heavy cost of a National Health Bed accomodation was found nearby in the Italian Hospital. The specialist
was willing to see
Demetrius at this hospital and to carry out tests and X-rays to see if
anything further could be done to improve his condition. After
a week of intensive medical examinations and tests, the specialist came to the conclusion
that an operation would be too risky and might even make matters worsc. He felt
that in the circumstances everything possible, from a medical point of
view, was being done for the boy and advised regular physiotherapy, to help him increase his mobility. The cost of these
examinations has been approximately £100. Lady Stewart (our
contact in Athens) hopes that she can provide special
transport to enable Demetrius to follow the physiotherapy treatment in Athens
which at the moment is too difficult because of the distance from the home of
the Cacayannis family and the treatment centre.
Mumaje Jackson from
Tanzania, East Africa (1970)
For the first tine IHC has been asked to take a
medical case from Africa. Mumaje is 14 and suffers from serious
heart disease. He has been under the care of Dr Joseph Taylor who is
British and who is in charge of the hospital at Dodoma. He
approached us asking if we could save the boy's life by bringing him to London.
The operation he required could only be performed in this country.
Mumaje's father is a simple farmer who has faced famine this year and his crops
have been ruined. There are 4 other children in the family. Mumaje himself is a. bright and intelligent
boy and in spite of his
heart condition, the headmaster of his school says he shows great promise.
A surgeon has been found at Charing Cross hospital who will give his services
free together with his team which consists of 22 people. In addition
20 blood donors with the same blood group as Mumaje will have to stand by ready
to give a pint of fresh blood. Sadly despite
our efforts to help this boy he was one of the few children whose treatment in
England was not successful and he died a few days after his operation.
Of course any heart operation carries risks which were clearly greater in the
1970s than they are today.
Manju Gupta from Lucknow
(India) 1970
Last July vie received a request from the Uttar
Pradesh Council for Guild welfare to save the life of a girl who needed a major
heart operation which could not in any circumstances be carried out in India.
Her father was blind and the family had to rely on the mother's earnings as a
canteen worker. We therefore approached Mr Baimbridge, heart surgeon
at St Thomas' Hospital who had already operated on two IHC medical cases -
always donating his fees. We were very pleased when for the 3rd time
he agreed to treat yet another case and Manju was offered a bed in the first
week of September. As she could not be done under the NHS £300 was
required for this bed. Communication by letter proved to be very
difficult, letters taking 2 weeks to reach Lucknow and the same time for a reply
to return to London. This created special difficulties and owing to
lack of information the bed booked in September had to be cancelled.
Although telegrams to Lucknow cost £2 .10/- a time we felt that the urgency of
the situation demanded this expense and once more a bed was booked this time for
the beginning of December. On Monday December 1st a telegram arrived
at 9.00am to say that Manju would be arriving in London at 10.15am that morning. Manju, who is 17, had never
left her town before and had never been in
an aeroplane. She travelled from Lucknow to London. via Delhi, entirely
alone, with only a. smattering of English and fully aware that sne was to
undergo a dangerous operaticn. This was carried out on
December 9th and proved to be 100% successful. On January 2nd, only four weeks later,
Manju flew to Lucknow
(her return fare having been paid from Indian sources). Her picture
appeared in the Guardian, The Evening News, The Evening Standard
and she gave a short recording on the BBC South East News.
Ifeoma Ume-Ezeoke, aged 10, from Lagos, Nigeria.
(1971)
We were visiting Father Borrelli to organise the summer reception of his
urchins when we met an Englishman, Mr. Donovan, who very kindly provided transport
in his own car which he had brought out to Naples. Over the years Mr. Donovan
has kept in touch with IHC and recently he accepted a position with Christian
Aid in Lagos where he was immediately involved in the heavy tasks that are facing
so many relief teams there. Mr. Donovan somehow found time to bring to our
notice the plight of Ifeoma, who was very seriously burned following an accident
in her home two years ago. Money for her fare to come to this country by air,
accompanied by her 21 year-old aunt, has been raised locally, but the cost of
plastic surgery and hospital fees as a private patient are totally beyond the
resources of her family, who are former Biafrans. Following lengthy negotiations
and coping with a good deal of red tape in order to obtain a visa, it looks as
though Ifeoma may arrive in London before Christmas. She will be treated at the
Italian Hospital where a St. Thomas's consultant will operate free of charge.
The fees for a private bed at this voluntary hospital are much less than at St.
Thomas's. Thus an Anglo-Nigerian-Italian effort will we hope result in a better
future for Ifeoma. Fortunately another of her aunts is living in London and will
look after her niece when she is convalescent. Our Finchley local committee have
promised to take a keep. interest in the child and to help in any way possible.
Udak Okon aged 10
(1971)
Uduak was a Turrkish
girl suffering from paralytic polio who was brought over to England for
specialized treatment.
I visited Uduak on February 24th at Penhurst, Chipping Norton, which is a
special home for handicapped boys and girls. It was most encouraging to see the
improvement in this child, especially in her general attitude. She is obviously
much happier and more contented and she is busy and interested in what she is
doing. Uduak showed me her stamp album. .
A member of the staff has carefully
written out a heading for each stamp collection according to the
different countries and Uduak undoubtedly thoroughly enjoys this hobby.
If she receives duplicate stamps she organises exchanges with other
children. There are several coloured little girls staying in the Home,
and Uduak is accepted as a member of the family by everyone. Some of
the British children are very pathetic cases, especially those who have
most distressing physical handicaps and yet mentally are very
alert. From the medical point of view Uduak:'s progress is
slow and at the moment the wardens are persuading her to follow a
rather strict diet to try and reduce her weight.
Uduak has a special chair which she uses with great skill but she
cannot take rnuch exercise and so she is inclined to put on a lot of
weight. In addition, her intake of drugs, including
cortisone, is quite considerable and this again tends to make her
rather fat. Her drugs alone cost £23 per annum and now an
orthopaedic surgeon at the Nuffield Institute is consulting with his
colleagues to see if an operation could be performed to give Uduak
mobility, If such an operation takes place only the bed will have to be
paid for, as the surgeon and his team will waive any fees. .There
is no doubt that Uduak's future is much brighter, especially as she has
settled down so well, and this I think is due entirely to the excellent
atmosphere in this children's home and the devoted care of the
staff. It is an education and an experience for
anyone to visit Penhurst to discover the type of work that is being
carried out there so quietly and yet so efficiently, thus giving hope
not only to Uduak but to the other little residents, who come under the
care of the National Children's Home.