Child Of The Month

By Rich Petersen

Tadeo de Jesús Barajas Aceves

 

child-may12Programa pro Niños Incapacitados del Lago is pleased to present this sweet 4-month old little guy, Tadeo de Jesús Barajas Aceves. Tadeo is the youngest of three children and lives with his parents in Chapala. His mother, María Liliana (shown here) is a housewife and Dad, José Roberto works in construction. He has one sister and one brother, ages 6 and 3.

If you look closely at Tadeo’s hands, you might notice that his fingers overlap each other and don’t straighten out in the usual way. This condition is known as “arthogryposis,” which means “curved joint,” normally in a fixed position. His little toes show the same anomaly. The condition is caused by anything that prevents those normal “kicks and shoves” of the fetus while in utero, thus also not allowing the joints the opportunity to move with full range of motion. This occurs very early in the child’s development, and the more limitation during pregnancy, the more severe the contractures will be at birth. Other causes involve abnormalities of the muscle structure and abnormalities of the nerves that connect to the muscles.

Tadeo has already undergone several tests (electromyography) to check the function of his nerves, but so far nothing conclusive has turned up. Unfortunately he also suffered from some hours of lack of sufficient oxygen after being born, and so has to take anti-convulsive medications until this hopefully clears up.

As if this weren’t enough, according to our medical doctor at Programa pro Niños Incapacitados del Lago, Dr. Carla Cueva, a geneticist, our little guy could also have what is known as “Edwards’ syndrome,” a genetic defect (chromosomal), also known as lack of the Trisomy 18 gene. Further testing is being done in this regard, and hopefully will be ruled out since Edwards’ syndrome can cause in a short life span.

Tadeo for now is showing lots of improvement at his young age. His mother gives him daily physical therapy at home and she has just signed him up with Teletón, Mexico’s national physical and mental therapy clinic. Mom says he loves to hear sounds and music, but he doesn’t like to be touched very much or even have his hair combed. He is happiest when in almost constant motion. At our last meeting, we had to carry him around the room while talking about him so he would calm down…..and he did. His mother had a very happy moment the other day when Tadeo was able to hold/support his own bottle, without help from anyone. A good step.

If you would like to learn more about us and our organization, please join us the second Thursday of each month at 10:00 a.m. in one of the meeting rooms at the Hotel Real de Chapala in La Floresta. We always present one of “our” children prior to the business meeting. Please feel free to bring a friend.

NOTE: Our last meeting of the year will be on May 10th as we do not meet during the summer months since so many of our Lakeside members and friends are traveling and not available. Our work continues, however, as we continue to see our parents and help them with the financial aspect of the medical bills for their children.

 

 

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