Rats, cockroaches fed on my intestines

SUNDAY VISION

By Watuwa Timbiti

Born without an anus, life is really absurd for Willy Sekyanzi, who has to pass out stool through the intestines.

Childhood is a stage of no worries about what today and tomorrow holds. Sadly, not every child finds it easy. For some, being born is a call of suffering right from day one and 13-year-old Willy Ssekyanzi, is one of them. One can say the true meaning of life, to this day, has continuously eluded him.

Ssekyanzi, who is currently living with his father and stepmother in Lugazi II village, commonly known as Kumusanvu on the Jinja-Buikwe road, was born without an anus and spent four days without passing out stool.

Initial operations to enable him ease himself left him with intestines hanging outside through which he passes stool.

Robert Kawesa, Ssekyanzi’s father, says after the first and second operation in Mulago Hospital, a third operation was to be done in Nakasero Hospital, but it could not be done immediately due to lack of money (about sh6m was required).

Kawesa says the original medical reports from Mulago Hospital, on the nature of the complication and the operations that were done, got lost.

This meant that in the event that they got the money, the operations could not be done without the original papers.

“We went back to Mulago Hospital and asked them to help us — they checked through the files and generated new papers. We then mobilised for money and a third operation was done in May 2013. A hole was created,” he recalls.

“We are now waiting for the wound to heal and then we go back to have another operation to fix back the intestines into the stomach.”

The two operations in Nakasero Hospital, according to Kawesa, will cost about sh8.4m. Despite their financial limitations, they have managed to raise sh3.5m. His prayer is that well-wishers will join in and help save Ssekyanzi’s life.

Rats, cockroaches feast

The secretions and attendant foul smell that surrounds Ssekyanzi, attracts rats and cockroaches that nibbled on his intestines.

“Even if he tightly wrapped a cloth around the intestines and covered himself entirely, the rats would always find their way to the intestines,” says Grace Babirye, Ssekyanzi’s stepmother.

She adds that Ssekyanzi’s beddings were always full of holes due to the work of rats.

“The rats would come when I am deep asleep — so I could not hear or feel them. I only got to know about their effect in the morning due to the wounds inflicted and the oozing blood,” Ssekyanzi explains.

He adds that the rat bites would eventually spark a fever, thus forcing him to stay away from school until he gets better.
 

The incidents of rats stopped when they moved to a house that is less vermin-infested. Even then, the intestinal secretions make the bedding wet, meaning that they have to be washed every day.

Thankfully, he has two pairs of bedding.

Apart from having to wash daily, the wetness gradually compromises the durability of the mattresses — they split and this means struggling to find resources to get Ssekyanzi a new mattress.

Worse still, Ssekyanzi is prone to malaria which attacks him quite often. According to Babirye, the malaria takes long to heal and always causes wounds on the intestines. Ssekyanzi eats normally, though he eats little quantities and does not eat certain foods, like offals.

Four baths a day

The constant secretion of fluids from the intestines, obviously, presents grave hygiene challenges that need serious measures to prevent deadly infections. Therefore, Ssekyanzi undergoes a daily routine of bathing four times.

“This is done to keep off the smell and gain acceptance from his peers at school, but also to clean the intestines of dirt and any other small substances that could get stuck there,” Babirye explains, adding that he does not use scented soap, but ordinary laundry soap.

Despite Ssekyanzi’s trying health condition, he has not succumbed to self-pity and self-exclusion — he plays like other children, although some often stigmatise him with demeaning nicknames.

For instance, she points out, they provocatively call him 'bijacket' simply because he is always in a jacket as a form of protection from exposure of the wet shirt inside.
 

Dream under threat

Ssekyanzi who is in P4 and obviously too old for his class, wants to be a doctor. “By the time I came in, he was still at home just because they thought he could not study. I asked his father to let me get him a school and he started in 2010. I asked the school management to let him return home periodically to bathe so that his classmates do not get inconvenienced,” Babirye says.

EXPERT OPINION

Condtion common among boys

In a December 2009 New Vision article, on 12-year-old Joseph Wasswa, who had a similar birth defect, Mulago paediatric surgeon Dr. John Sekabira said the condition, which commonly occurs in boys, is an anorectal malformation or imperforate anus. “Babies with the condition have a malformation in the rectum.

Internationally, about one baby in every 5,000 live births has the defect,” the article read in part. Sekabira said the defect happens during early pregnancy when a foetus is developing.

In babies born with the condition, the anus and rectum, found at the lower end of the intestines do not develop properly. He explained that the causes of the condition have not yet been found, although some viral infections or drugs, if taken between the first and the eighth weeks of a pregnancy, could also contribute to the problem.

These (infections and drugs) can affect the development of either the heart or urinary system and once the baby is born with the combined defects, it will be difficult to heal, Sekabira is quoted to have said.

Late detection dangerous

Sekabira advised early operation, noting that it is difficult in cases where the defect causes a disconnection between the intestine and the anus.

He explained that if the stool or meconium remains in the baby’s intestine for long after birth — the baby vomits or gets a swelling of the abdomen. The operations are difficult if the children are presented late due to late detection by parents.

There are two common anal defects. In one, the rectum does not develop to reach the anus in the pelvic floor and in the second one, the rectum develops, but has no anal opening.

In some cases, boys born without an anal opening will have fistula, which causes passing of stool through any other passage like the urinary system.

Girls born without an anal opening may pass stool through an opening near the vagina. Other babies can be born without separate systems for urine or stool.

Sekabira says they end up passing both urine and stool through a common opening in the perineum. A temporary outlet is made on the tummy, which is later closed after a year when the operation for a proper anus has occurred.