Seven-year-old Benjamin Dotu suffers from a condition called Brain Arteriovenous Malformation
A mother whose seven-year-old son lives with a condition called Brain Arteriovenous Malformation (AVM) has expressed her strongest desire of seeing her son in school.
Brain Arteriovenous Malformation is a tangle of abnormal and poorly formed blood vessels.
Brain AVMs are of special concerns because of the damage they cause when they bleed. They are rare and occur in less than one percent of the general population, according to the Toronto Brain Vascular malformation study group.
Ms Antoinette Sinzogah, Mother of seven-year-old Benjamin Dotu who lives with AVM, said Benjamin was her fourth child and has a slightly bigger head, sit without support, talks eloquently, and was able to express himself, indicating his intelligence.
Ms. Sinzogah said she was a French teacher in a private school when she gave birth to Benjamin, but had to stop working because of her son’s condition to become a stay home mother and primary caregiver.
“I wish my son could go to school, I am even willing to work in any school that would admit my son so that I can help attend to children with special needs in the school. I trained as a professional teacher,” she said.
Ms Sinzogah said she had a seemingly normal pregnancy except that she had Malaria when she was four-month into the pregnancy, and was induced to labour when she was due for delivery.
“My son had jaundice in the first week of life, but he was put under phototherapy to clear it, as he grew, I noticed his neck wasn’t getting stable, I complained to the healthcare professionals, but they told me to give it some time.
“When my son was six months old, I went back to the hospital, where I was told to start physiotherapy and doctors said they could not operate him because of where the malformation is,” she said.
Ms Sinzogah said her family is forced to live on one income, that is her husband’s income and it was woefully inadequate given that they had four children and her income as a teacher was of great help to the family.
She appealed to the government to establish facilities that could accommodate and educate children with special needs and also to employ especially mothers to work in such facilities.
“I am ever ready to work in a special needs facility or school should my son have the opportunity to go to school,” Ms. Sinzogah added.
