Popular TV personality Betty Kyallo has shared heartbreaking details of her daughter’s health struggles this year.
At the beginning of this year, the news anchor’s four-year-old daughter Ivanna went into a coma and got admitted at the ICU at Nairobi Hospital Children’s ward for a month as specialists tried to figure out what was wrong with her. This according to a lengthy social media post that Betty posted.
“For the Larger part of her diagnosis doctors couldn’t even figure out what was wrong with her. We did numerous tests looking at every organ and blood but for a long time of hospitalization in Nairobi Hospital Children’s ward we couldn’t find it,” Betty shared.
Before she went into a coma, Betty said, her daughter stopped walking, talking, eating and at some point, she could not even keep her eyes open.
“Early this year my sweet lovely daughter Ivanna was diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disease. It was marked by a sudden widespread attack of inflammation in the brain and spinal cord called ADEM (acute disseminated encephalomyelitis)” Betty posted.
The ever bubbly anchor revealed how she fell into depression after her daughter fell sick and the countless nights she spent at the hospital as doctors tried to treat her.
“As a mother, this was my lowest time, I was crushed every day seeing my daughter wasting away and Couldn’t do anything,” she added.
View this post on InstagramAdvertisement. Scroll to continue reading.A post shared by Betty Kyallo 🇰🇪 (@bettymuteikyallo) on
Betty said she did not want to share about her struggles with her daughter’s illness but it took a lot of convincing from family members.
”As another year once again comes to an end I cannot help but reflect and look back as this year has been a special one; difficult and extremely challenging to me and my family. It took a lot of convincing for me to share what I am about to share due to its sensitivity and privacy in nature, however, I feel I won’t have done my duty to thank God for not abandoning us If I decide to be silent about it. If at the end of this message I will give heart to someone going through the same challenge, anxiety, fear and Loneliness I’ll sleep better,” she wrote.
Celebrating the end of 2019, Betty is grateful for the health of her only daughter and is thankful for all the brilliant doctors who helped her daughter get better.
“Thanks to God and the brilliant doctors that were so kind and gracious in their work and how they diligently treated my daughter especially Dr Ismail primary ICU pediatric carer for my daughter, the overall lead Neurologist carer Dr Oyatsi and ICU nurses, Ward doctors and nurses we finally found a name to what was eating her. She is fully healed. Amen! 😊,” she added.
According to the American Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), ADEM often follows viral or bacterial infections, or less often, vaccination for measles, mumps, or rubella. The symptoms of ADEM appear rapidly, beginning with encephalitis-like symptoms such as fever, fatigue, headache, nausea and vomiting, and in the most severe cases, seizures and coma. ADEM typically damages white matter (brain tissue that takes its name from the white colour of myelin), leading to neurological symptoms such as visual loss (due to inflammation of the optic nerve) in one or both eyes, weakness even to the point of paralysis, and difficulty coordinating voluntary muscle movements (such as those used in walking).