Hospital
Cherishes Cape Town’s Children and Babies in Crisis
By Katie Walsh, Special Correspondent
WITH LITTLE MONIQUE: Dr Joseph Lam cuddles and comforts
12-year old Monique during his 2003 visit to Tygerberg Children’s
Hospital which treats 16.000 children every year, many whom
are innocent HIV/AIDS victims. (WCF photo by Adam Buchanan)
CAPE TOWN, South Africa – World Children’s Fund founder
Dr. Joseph Lam is keeping his promise to Nobel prize winning
Archbishop Desmond Tutu. He is helping to equip and care
for the population of one million children who rely on the
Tygerberg Children’s Hospital here for long-term care.
Through “Operation Africa Child” Dr. Lam is helping give
needy African children health, healing and hope for the
future – children like little Monique.
When Monique’s desperate family first brought her from the
little village of Delft to Tygerberg Hospital in 1994, Monique’s
body was sick with pneumonia and crippled with spastic quadriplegia.
Having suffered a cervical spinal cord injury, Monique was
unable to control movement in most of her body and desperately
dependent on a ventilator to provide for every breath.
Dr. Lam is helping to raise nearly the �946.000 urgently
needed now by the hospital to replace aged equipment like
Monica’s ventilator, and save more children from the ravages
of simple diseases like pneumonia and other complications
The pneumonia weakened Monique’s already handicapped two-year-old
body, while the spastic quadriplegia caused uncontrollable
muscle tremors. Monique’s critical condition made it impossible
for her to be adequately cared for at home any longer. Monique
needed to be permanently hospitalized in order to survive.
At the first stages of her little life, Monique’s future
looked hopelessly dim.
The staff at Tygerberg Children’s Hospital was determined
to provide Monique with a promising tomorrow and a chance
to be a child today. Monique’s medical needs were immediately
addressed as the staff did everything they could to fight
the pneumonia and lessen the debilitating effects of the
quadriplegia.
When most children her age were learning how to play, Monique
was learning how to breathe with the help of an electronic
ventilator. Before the age of three, Monique learned to
speak by timing her voice to coincide with the ventilator
breaths. A few words, perhaps half a sentence at a time,
Monique learned how to express her needs and her feelings.
Monique’s disabling medical condition might have denied
her access to an education. But the staff at Tygerberg refuses
to allow medical disadvantages to rob children like Monique
of an education. Monique attends daily classes taught by
a specially trained staff of teachers at the Tygerberg Hospital
School.
Though her physical abilities are severely limited, her
mental capabilities are equivalent to other children her
age. She learns quickly and has even become able to do some
of her school work on a computer.
Monique’s fragile condition might have meant that she could
never leave the confines of a hospital again. But the staff
at Tygerberg Children’s Hospital is unwilling to let a little
girl be hopelessly confined to her hospital room.
Resolved to allow Monique to visit her family home for Christmas
in December 1997, the Tygerberg ambulance staff undertook
the precarious task of transporting Monique, her ventilator,
and needed medical equipment from the hospital to the village
of Delft. Monique was able to see her home for the first
time since being admitted to the hospital.
Since that trip, hospital staff has arranged two more visits
to Monique’s home – and Monique has been able to leave her
hospital room for other adventures as well. The Tygerberg
medical team continues to give their time to take Monique
on local outings to famed local tourist attractions -- Melkbosstrand,
the Waterfront, and Table Mountain.
Today Monique is a smiling, growing little girl with a hopeful
future. Because of the medical care given to her at Tygerberg,
Monique’s quadriplegia and dependence on a ventilator have
not kept her from communicating, from learning, or from
being able to experience the beautiful world beyond the
hospital walls.
The staff at Tygerberg Children’s Hospital seeks to give
the same care and expert medical attention that Monique
has received to each of the 16.000 sick babies and children
annually admitted. There are still thousands more children
in South Africa like Monique, each with their own story,
who desperately need the medical support and care provided
by Tygerberg Children’s Hospital.
Although millions of dollars are needed to upgrade Tygerberg
and other hospitals throughout Africa, Dr. Lam realizes
that much of the funds will need to come in �12 or �24 at
a time. To help contribute to this need, please visit our
website at www.worldchildrensfund.org and click on the 'Contribute'
tab. (Updated 20 February 2004, WTB)
