Boy, 5, stuck in India pens emotional letter to President Uhuru to raise Sh3.5 million for surgery costs

A five-year-old boy, Ethan Macharia penning an emotional letter to President Uhuru Kenyatta from India, where he and his mother have been stuck for weeks unable to pay for a surgery he is to undergo.[Photo: Courtesy]

A five-year-old boy has penned an emotional letter to President Uhuru Kenyatta from India where he and his mother have been stuck for weeks unable to pay for a surgery he is to undergo.

 In a letter titled "Dear Mr President," Ethan Macharia has appealed to the President and well-wishers to help raise Sh3.5 million to facilitate the surgery.

In November of 2018, the boy badly fell while playing, critically damaging his head.

He would soon develop violent seizures that further worsened his situation, resulting in grave bodily harm.

 Ethan's life was completely altered and has never been able to resume school owing to the frequent number of violent seizures he gets in a day.

Veronica Njeri, the boy's mum explains: "My son was leading a normal life until the unfortunate incident that changed our lives forever. We have spent the last 14 months trying to raise money for what doctors call a Palliative VNS surgery that's supposed to suppress his daily seizures as a result of the fall. This is the second time we are here in the last 14 months and we couldn't raise enough money the first time."

According to doctors in India, the VNS surgery is extremely important for Ethan due to the number of seizures he gets in a day and have not been controlled through multiple drugs.

 This is an option in only a subgroup of pharmacoresistant patients, where an epileptogenic focus is localised and amenable to surgical intervention.

Ethan, who wants to be a footballer when he grows up, needs help, and needs it soon.