Hydrocepalic kids wait for God's mercy at RSCM
Hydrocepalic kids wait for God's mercy at RSCM
By K. Basrie
JAKARTA (JP): She was born at 12:55 p.m. on Dec. 12, 1995.
According to available documents issued by Cipto Mangunkusumo
General Hospital, where she was born, her mother was Nyonya
(Mrs.) Riska of Cempaka Batu in Kebon Jeruk, West Jakarta.
Her father, Arif, was also recorded to have the same address.
Their profession was unknown.
Doctor Yudiyanto of the hospital, who helped with the birth,
recorded that the girl was born with a harelip.
She was 3,580 grams and 48 centimeters, Yudiyanto noted.
A document also stated: "The baby was abandoned here by her
parents, who probably refused to take her due to the visible
harelip."
The hospital management decided to keep the baby for a few
days in hope that her parents would change their minds and
reclaim the baby girl, their first child.
But days passed without a reappearance of the couple and it
was apparent that the baby would have to face her own fate alone.
On March 13, 1996, three months after her birth, doctors
learned -- through a CT scanner -- that the neglected baby was
suffering from hydrocephalus, an abnormal condition caused by an
increase in the volume of cerebrospinal fluid within the skull.
Two months later, the city's Social Services Agency handed
over the baby -- who still had no name -- to the Sayap Ibu
Foundation, which runs three orphanages.
The baby's documents only identified her as the "daughter of
Nyonya Riska".
Nurses at the Sayap Ibu orphanage on Jl. Barito II in South
Jakarta then called the ivory skinned girl Ayu, which literally
means charming.
The orphanage documents do not name her father.
"We've been informed that Arif was the girl's biological
father. In other words, he was not married to Riska," Octa, a
volunteer worker at the orphanage, told The Jakarta Post
yesterday.
Although the nurses have been told by doctors that Ayu's
condition is untreatable, the nurses still treat the girl as if
she is part of their big family.
"Like other sufferers of hydrocephalus, doctors say Ayu is
already hopeless.
"But we put her life in God's hands and do all we can to take
care of her daily needs and keep her company," Penny, one of the
orphanage's senior nurses, said while playing with Ayu.
Despite her disability, Ayu often dances and plays with
balloons with the orphanage's nurses and volunteers.
"She often hurts her head in order to show us that she can
dance," said a nurse.
Ayu, now two years and seven months old, spends her time in a
baby bed set up in a room occupied by eight other disabled
orphans, including two with hydrocephalus.
The other two suffering from hydrocephalus -- Wahyuni, 8, and
Wahyudi, 11 -- have similarly grim life stories.
Like Ayu, they have spent almost their entire childhood in bed
with their dreams and tears.
Doctors have indicated that children suffering from
hydrocephalus only live eight years at the most, said Penny.
"But God knows better than us human beings," she said.
"Wahyudi (born on May 15, 1987) is a living example that a
hydrocephalic boy like him can live to be 11."
Ayu has the largest head of the three hydrocephalic children
at the orphanage. It is about four times the normal size.
The children are all fed regularly by the nurses, who say they
hope that God will one day send someone to help cure them.
"All illnesses should have a remedy," Octa said.