Teen cancer victim in need of help

Jun 28, 2010 News

STANLEYTOWN, NEW AMSTERDAM – Fifteen-year old Trinemcon Tracey Martin of Lot 46 Stanleytown, New Amsterdam has neuroblastoma, a rare cancer of the central nervous system.

Her relatives have been told that there is no hope for her, but Trinemcon is determined to try to beat the odds and live a normal life.

Victim Trinemcon Tracey Martin

And the family is optimistic that she could be given a second chance if only medical experts are willing to accept the challenge.

The child’s aunt, Alexis Williams of 1399 Central Amelia’s Ward, Linden has only known her for ten years and could not give a complete history of her battle with the disease.

But according to her, she became involved in 2008 and has been accompanying Tracey to all doctors’ appointments ever since.

Mrs. Williams explained that periodic clinical checks were done over a two year period in Georgetown from 2008. In 2009, based on the results of a biopsy she was diagnosed with neuroblastoma and chemotherapy was administered. Six cycles were recommended for Tracey starting in June and ended in January 2010. According to Mrs. Williams, in the final analysis, the chemotherapy was not successful and the girl’s condition is deteriorating as the cancer continues to have its way.

Mrs. Williams said that the specialist at the Georgetown Public Hospital recommended yet another CT scan in February.

“It showed the extensiveness of the mass and where it is situated. The doctor said because of where this tumor is situated they cannot do anything about it. They (doctors) decided that nothing more could be done for her. The doctor said surgery would be dangerous for her. I feel that because of the technicality they gave up on her. All they said was to return for monthly clinical checks. They said because of her clinical reports they would not recommend treatment overseas. The main doctor said what he said and because of that they closed the case. In other words it was a dismissal, just return for clinical checks and that’s that.”

The option given to them is not to their liking.

“All they (doctors) did was just give me a brief dismissal. I would like somebody else to say if it (surgical intervention) cannot be done here (in Guyana) if it can be done elsewhere in a country where technology is further advanced. She is young, hasn’t lived her life and it is painful to know that they have just give up on her and we just have to watch her waste away and die.”

Mrs. Williams said she was hoping that the doctor would have spent just a little more time explaining in detail what is wrong with Tracey Martin. She experiences numbness in the legs and severe pains in both the legs and abdomen, “Where the tumor is, it is not easily accessible. It rests on the main blood vessel that carries the blood around the body. She cannot lie on her back and cannot sit for long periods. She is folded in half most of the time because that is the most comfortable position for her and that is how she eats drinks and everything.’

In May this year Tracey’s condition took another turn and she became incontinent and stopped walking as well. On June 2, she was taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital. Mrs. Williams said that a catheter was inserted after kidney tests were done. On June 21st the aunt requested a transfer to the New Amsterdam Hospital because the distance was an ordeal for the sick teen.

Mrs. Williams can be contacted on telephone number 697-2548 or 442-3393. When she first met Tracey, she appeared to be active.

“She was going about like any normal child only that she had a limp.” The first time she accompanied the child to the doctor was in August 2008 for a CT Scan on a lump that was located somewhere between the abdomen and back. She said the family members gave her different versions about the discovery of the lump and when it appeared.

According to Tracey’s sister, 25-year old Kerrenca Schultz, Tracey Martin has no birth certificate. Even the correct spelling of her name could not be ascertained. On almost every medical document the family presented to the Kaieteur News the spelling of the child’s name was different.

Their mother, 50-year-old Debra Schultz has a hearing impairment.

Life for the family is no one’s dream, “My mother works for $3,500 a week. She does clean the Church and catch she hand washing and so for people. She got to mind five children in all. My sister is 17, she is disabled and she does catch fits a lot. My nine-year old brother got asthma. My sister is seven, her face twist up bad (Down’s Syndrome). The 14-year old boy is okay. Is eight of us in all.”

Kerrenca Schultz related that her mother fell during her pregnancy with her last child, who is now seven years old, “The floor was broken and she went through the floor to the ground and that is why me sister face twist up like that.”

Kerrenca Schultz said that the mother was not worried about Tracey even though some things were unusual. According to her, Tracey began walking at a late stage when compared to others her age, “She just used to deh lie down all the time. When she was three years then she start walking for the first time.”

The woman said that many things happened to her sister but their mother never took them seriously, “She fall when she was about six months old and hit her hip on them old time iron bed and one of she legs come out. Mummy take her to the doctor but they say they couldn’t do anything about it and it left just like that and so it knit back by itself. After it knit back she was not feeling pain. She legs long and short and when she used to walk, she walk with a limp.”

The sister said at the age of two the family discovered a lump on her back in the region where she sustained the blow during the earlier fall and took her to the Georgetown Hospital, “The doctors say she was too small to move the lump. It left just like that and she wasn’t feeling any pain.”

The child never attended the nursery level but began her education at the New Amsterdam Primary School.

“The kids used to beat her up a lot and by the foot used to affect her…the limp… and my mother asked for a transfer to the Overwinning Primary.”

School days for Tracey Martin was not a good experience on the whole, “I used to ask my mother if is because we never used to get much to eat at home why Tracey does walk like that and she say yes.”

As she got older Tracey’s troubles seemed to multiply, “In 2008 she start to cry out for pain in the tummy and we carry her to the Georgetown Hospital.

They admit she and do x-rays, CT-scans. The doctor say the lump on her back is a tumor and by it didn’t getting no space to grow it spread out to the tummy. It is getting bigger everyday and hurt her a lot.”

According to the sister, in March the child began complaining of weak legs and never walked again.

“We went out and when we coming home just at the head of the street she went down and couldn’t walk. She said the foot feel numb and we had to lift her. The ‘chemo’ was not helping her and the tumor is getting bigger.”