By Theresia Ana | Palliative Care Nurse
“Ivan weighed only 7.2kgs when he was referred to Rachel House in August – far below the normal weight for an 18-month infant. He was suffering from severe malnutrition and lung tuberculosis, and was being fed through a nasogastric tube, which can cause great discomfort.
Little Ivan has been seriously ill his entire life and has been in and out of hospital. When he was discharged in August, we continued his care at home, in consultation with his doctors. One of the big goals we set for Ivan was to increase his weight, because when you are underweight you are far more likely to get even sicker.
Ivan has a loving family around him – but both of his parents are sick and unable to work. His grandparents try to help out where they can but money is very tight. The best way to help Ivan gain weight is to supplement his diet with infant milk formula. But this formula is very expensive. Like most Indonesian families, this formula was out of reach of Ivan and his family.
Thanks to support of Rachel House donors, however, we have been able to provide the infant milk formula to Ivan. In conjunction with an overall plan for Ivan, the results have been great – in just over four months his weight has increased to a much healthier 10.4 kg.
Another key part of the plan for Ivan is making sure he continues to receive his medication when at home. Unfortunately, health literacy is very low among many Indonesians. Since August, I’ve been working closely with his mum and dad to make he gets gets his medicine on time, his tablets don’t run out and to help manage any complications or side effects.
Right now his tuberculosis is stable and he is continuing to gain weight. We are now hoping we can get him onto solid foods soon so he won't need the nasogastric tube, which causes great pain when it needs to be changed each week.
Things are looking up for Ivan and his family, and that’s thanks to the donors and supporters of Rachel House, who make sure we can support him and his family.
Photo credits: Ryan St John/NGO Photographers Alliance
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