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Young Sydree needs help

By CLAUDINE HOUSEN, Staff Reporter

Three-year-old Sydree Shearer and mother Dawn Gayle. - CLAUDINE HOUSEN

WESTERN BUREAU

THREE-YEAR-OLD Sydree Shearer is in need of public assistance. Young Shearer was diagnosed with chronic diarrhoea of unknown origin shortly after his first birthday and has been battling with his illness ever since.

"He was admitted to the hospital when he was 11 months old with meningitis," said his mother, Dawn Gayle, 28, of Chester Castle, Hanover. "Three months down the line we realised something was wrong; he was having a constant watery stool."

Sydree first came to public attention in October of 2004, when his family needed assistance to pay examination costs at the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI). "This is the second time we are raising money. The first time was when he was supposed to go to the University Hospital," his mother said. "I got $JA27,000 at the time. That was last year October."

Watery stool

Sydree has since been to the UHWI and while he has improved somewhat, in terms of the number of times per day he passes his stool, he is still severely under weight for his age.

"He used to have watery stool like seven-eight times per day. It has gone down now to like one or two times for the day," Ms Gayle said. "He eats regular food but because his body is not getting the nutrients that it should, we have to try and concentrate on allowing him to put on some weight. Each time he puts on a little, he loses it."

With the help of weight-building formulas and liquid potassium to maintain the electrolytes in his system, Sydree now weighs 23 pounds, a mere three pounds more than his usual weight.

The older of two children of Ms. Gayle, Sydree is the only one with this problem and after numerous tests, doctors are still baffled as to what may be causing his ailment.

"The tests that they (the doctors) have done have all come back normal. The last one was an endoscopy which came back okay," Ms. Gayle said. "They need to do some other tests but there is no lab here (in Jamaica) that does them and they say to pull the sample here to send it abroad could be more expensive than if the child had gone because waiting for the result, they might not have what to treat him and would have to import something."

Unable to keep a job since Sydree's last hospital visit, in which he was hospitalised with vomiting, Ms. Gayle is calling on the public for assistance.

"I am supposed to raise a certain amount of money to help to pay for the expense. They are saying from $JA120,000-180,000 within that region," she said. "I am asking the public to help me financially so I could pay for his medical and travelling expenses outside of Jamaica."