Against the odds ‘miracle child’ celebrates 10th birthday

At the age of three, Alexandria Sylvester’s parents were told by doctors that she would never make it to age ten. She was diagnosed with sickle cell anemia (*Hemoglobin SS Disease) and had a “50/50 chance of living.” Yesterday, the Standard 2 student of Newtown Girls’ RC, along with family and friends, marked her tenth birthday at her home in Boissiere Village, Maraval. The party which was scheduled for the Botanical Gardens had to be shifted because of the rains.

Every night, for the past week, Alexandria has been praying for sunshine on the day of her event. She was the one who initiated the party, giving her mother the task of “calling up the President (of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago) to ask him to use the Botanical Gardens.” This year has been Alexandria’s best, since being plagued with the disease. Over the past seven years, she has been in and out of the hospital on a weekly basis. However, after being hospitalised in January of this year when symptoms of overwhelming joint aches, fever, poor breathing and the yellowing of her palms re-occurred, Alexandria has maintained a hospital-free record.

So, apart from celebrating good health, she is also happy about receiving all the birthday gifts she requested including a cellular phone, a rug for her bedroom, a fan courtesy her doctor and clothing. She didn’t anticipate a surprise visit from her father, Glenn Joseph, who flew in for her birthday. Her mother, Arlene Sylvester, who is a nurse and medical receptionist has been helping Alexandria to cope with the disease, “educating her of the dos and dont’s.” She lamented: “I want to tell parents don’t despair when doctors tell you your child wouldn’t make it to see another birthday. Alexandria was given up for dead. We should always teach our children that Jesus is here for them, that sickness is not of Jesus.”

The birthday-girl is also comforted and assisted through her ordeal by her older siblings Essie and Jean-Paul. According to Arlene, although her daughter cries at times, even when she isn’t in pain, Alexandria has a proper view of her condition. She must ingest a daily dose of folic acid, vitamin E, Cod Liver oil and multi-vitamin tablets, and her daily penicilin injections. “She doesn’t like to take none of them but she realises now that when she takes them she is not going to be in hospital. She cannot have any carbonated beverages, she has to drink more water than anything and eat lots of fruits,” said her mother. Alexandria loves pizza and particularly black, seedless grapes.

She has also given up playing outdoors, swimming and eating candy. On Friday, she was busy in the kitchen helping her mother mix the ‘Power Puff Girls’ sponge cake for her birthday. Apart from being very helpful in the kitchen, Alexandria is quite generous with her possessions. During her stay at the children’s unit of the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex, Alexandria distributed some of her clothing to patients there. When the mother of a little girl was unexpectedly told that her daughter had to overnight at the hospital, Alexandria picked out a night gown from among her belongings and presented it to the woman.

As regards her future goals, initially Alexandria wanted to become a doctor to find a cure for sickle cell disease. “Now, she wants to be a teacher because she admires her teacher Ms Layne a lot.” *Sickle cell anemia (or Hemoglobin SS Disease) is an inherited disease in which the red blood cells, normally disc-shaped, become crescent shaped. As a result, they function abnormally and cause small blood clots. These clots give rise to recurrent painful episodes called “sickle cell pain crises.” Although sickle cell disease is inherited and present at birth, symptoms usually don’t occur until after four months. Sickle cell anemia may become life-threatening when damaged red blood cells break down (hemolytic crisis), when the spleen enlarges and traps the blood cells (splenic sequestration crisis), or when a certain type of infection causes the bone marrow to stop producing red blood cells (aplastic crisis). Repeated crises can cause damage to the kidneys, lungs, bones, eyes, and central nervous system.