ELEVEN-YEAR-OLD Hasani Rowe was scheduled to start his school journey at Garrison Secondary on September 6, the beginning of the new school year.
But he could not. It was not because he was anxious or afraid to enter a new learning environment. But rather because he was ordered not to by physicians, after he was diagnosed on August 1 with a tumour in the third ventricle of his brain, with dilatation of the lateral ventricles.
In order for the 92 Clapham Park, Christ Church resident to have any hope of attending school, he must undergo brain surgery at a hospital in Canada at the cost of BDS$200 000, a cost which his family cannot afford.
In an effort to raise those funds, Hasani’s family is calling on corporate Barbados and the general public to “kindly help Hasani with financial assistance”.
Sitting in his living room, Mark Rowe, who is the father of the former Luther Thorne student, described what his son experienced before he was diagnosed with the tumour.
“Two weeks prior to August 1 he had a cold. But he was also vomiting as regular as three times a day. We took him to see the family doctor, who gave him medication and the vomiting subsided. Then, we noticed that Hasani slowed down a lot. He just kept lying down and when we asked him what was wrong, he would say nothing.
“But we know that he is the type of person to be outside running around playing football with the guys, so we started to pick up that something was wrong with him. Then his right eye started twitching a lot and that is not something he usually did.
“But what scared us is when he started complaining about double vision. That propelled us to take him back to the family doctor, who immediately referred him to the paediatric ward of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital,” Mark said.
Hasani’s mother Jennifer Rowe said that “by the grace of God” she was holding on.
“We have made appeals to some charitable organisations [and are] currently receiving assistance from the hospital’s social services department. We are really reaching out to Barbadians to take their heart as far as it can go to give Hasani some support in getting this operation. Seeing my only son in a condition like this is hard to take. At first it was very difficult for me, but with much prayer and help from friends and family, I have settled,” she said.
Mark encouraged those interested in providing financial assistance to his only son to visit the FirstCaribbean International Bank, where they can deposit funds into a Hasani Rowe Relief Fund. The fund’s account number is 1001091148.
“The family wants to say thank you to those persons who have already made some contributions in whatever way to help Hasani. We are Christians and I must say that God has really been keeping Hasani up well. Since he was diagnosed he has had to go back to the hospital every week for a check-up, and right now he is on steroids. And we have had no further complications. His vision has levelled out and he is doing fine, and he doesn’t have any pain,” said Mark. (AH)
