“I want what is best for Maxwell,” shares his mother. “I long to see him walk and talk just like his peers.” She and two-year-old Maxwell live alone in a one-room apartment in Kenya, and have gotten by as a family of two since Maxwell’s father left.
When Maxwell turned ten months old, “his mother noticed that his head was increasing drastically in size,” reports our medical partner, African Mission Healthcare Foundation (AMHF). He also displayed “delayed development, lagging behind his peers in many activities, such as walking.” Maxwell was diagnosed with hydrocephalus, a condition where excess cerebrospinal fluid builds up in the cavities of the brain.
This disorder has not only given Maxwell’s head an abnormal size and shape, but also causes him discomfort as his expanding brain presses unnaturally hard against his cranium. This has changed his personality, making him more irritable than before. And if his hydrocephalus goes untreated, “Maxwell is likely to suffer brain damage and lose his sight,” says AMHF.
Fortunately, there is a surgical procedure that can help Maxwell. Doctors will insert a shunt into his brain that will remove the extra fluid from his brain and redistribute it to another part of his body, where it can be safely absorbed.
“With a daily average income of $2 Maxwell’s mother is not able to raise funds to enable him get a shunt insertion,” explains AMHF. However, we can help. $615 will cover the cost of Maxwell’s surgery, as well as the medications, tests, and five-day hospital stay that he will need to recover from the operation.
Let’s give Maxwell’s mother the chance to see her only child grow up healthy and strong.