Boy with brain outside skull needs Sh2m for chance to live

Lillian Makena, the nurse who has been taking care of Brian Gitau, describes him as an adorable and very healthy baby despite his condition of having the brain growing outside his head. Brian, who has been at the Consolata Mission Hospital Mathari in Nyeri since birth, requires Sh 2 million to undergo facial and neurosurgery. PHOTO: MOSE SAMMY/STANDARD

A baby born with its brain outside the skull is thriving in a Nyeri hospital more than a year after doctors declared he had little chance of survival.

Brian Gitau, now aged one year and four months, has puzzled doctors and the fraternity at the Catholic-sponsored Consolata Mission Hospital, Mathari with his determination to live.

No one, including his parents who are yet to come to terms with the rare condition of their son, expected him to live for more than a couple of hours.

Baby Brian suffers from anencephaly, a birth defect characterised by the brain growing outside a head through an opening in the skull.

The condition normally starts early in the pregnancy when the skull of the baby fails to close properly thus leaving a hole in the head.

Besides the defect, Brian has a large facial cleft that extends to his mouth making feeding him extremely difficult.

His 19-year-old mother, Esther Nyambura, was heartbroken when she saw her new-born baby on December 2013 and heard doctors pronounce his short life.

Her expectation of getting a normal child upon who she would depend on later in life, were extinguished as soon as she set her eyes on Brian.

According to doctors at the facility, Ms Nyambura was devastated especially because she had to be operated on during the delivery.

Nyambura, a resident of Kinunga village in Tetu, has since technically abandoned the son and only pays him irregular visits.

Attempts to reach Brian's father were unsuccessful as the only contact he left at the hospital turned out to be a wrong number.

Accept reality

It has been a characteristically stressful and emotional feat for the mother, a casual labourer, to accept the state of her son and face the reality that he might die anytime.

A life of penury has consigned her to a state of despondency as she cannot raise the requisite funds for his surgery.

The hospital's Chief Executive Officer Bernard Muriithi who has been closely monitoring Brian, is however optimistic.

 

Mr Muriithi says Brian only needs facial and neurosurgery to correct the cleft and put the brain inside the head respectively.

But as simple as it sounds, Muriithi says they have unsuccessfully been looking for plastic and neuro-surgeons for the entire time the boy has been on earth.

Their unfruitful search has seen them contact Kenyatta National Hospital, Manipal hospital in Bangalore, India, and Abercrombie & Kent Global Health in the United States.

"The main challenge has been raising the required Sh2 million for surgery and bringing the surgeons together," said Muriithi.

Muriithi, however, says their ability to continue looking after Brian is quickly diminishing as the baby progressively needs more specialised care and treatment.

He is appealing to well-wishers to assist Brian get an operation as soon as possible.