SEVERAL CANDLES WERE lit on the steps of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) yesterday in support of Takyla Lynch.
Since November 2016, the two-year-old has spent most of her time hooked up to tubes at the medical institution, for what her doctors initially thought was a breathing problem. It wasn’t until January that the infant was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) a genetic condition which makes the muscles weaker and causes problems with movement.
Takyla has breathing problems, difficulty swallowing and mobility issues.
At yesterday’s vigil organised by her parents Patricia Hunte and Anthony Lynch, scores of people came out in support. Her parents’ goal is to have her home by December and to raise funds for equipment including a portable ventilator, suction machine, oximeter and feeding pumps. They also want to build awareness about the condition.
“We would like to get her home by Christmas but in order to do that, we would have to get equipment. I don’t only want to do this for Takyla but I want the public to be aware[of the illness],” Patricia said.
If she had passed away last year, the death certificate would probably have the cause of death as a collapsed lung or pneumonia. So she would have gone along and SMA would be unknown in Barbados,” she added. (TG)
