‘Everything’s going really well’ with one in a million Ashley
Ashley was born with the VOGM in her brain – a malformation that only occurs in one in a million children.
Ashley Keet has been struggling with a vein of Galen malformation (VOGM) her whole life, but everything still seems to be going according to plan.
A week after Ashley was born, she and her mom were discharged, with what they thought at the time was simply issues with feeding. A week later, they went back for a sonar on her brain, which was declared clear as the ‘bleeding on the brain … was gone’.
Read the initial article here: Ashley’s one in a million
From that time on, Ashley had no issues with development, learning to walk at 10 months, and ‘Pappa’ being her first word. Then out of the blue, in January and February 2017, Ashley suffered two seizures, with her right side going lame the first time, and the left side the second. Following her second seizure, doctors at Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital explained that it could be bleeding on the brain, and the Keet family were referred to the Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital (IALCH) in Durban. It was here that they carried out an MRI which confirmed the VOGM.
Ashley was then sent for a second MRI in late September 2017 at the Charlotte Maxeke Academic Hospital, the results of which were sent to the doctors at IALCH who had previously worked with Ashley. After nearly five months of waiting and suspense, the Keet family finally received the news that Ashley needed no further intervention in February this year, a relief that they definitely needed.
They had also informed the Northsider that they had been planning to go on a vacation to Durban in May, and they stayed true to their word, and thoroughly enjoyed the trip. Not only was it a deserved break from all the hullabaloo for the Keet family, it was also a chance to celebrate Ashley’s third birthday.
One of the biggest steps that Ashley has taken since we last reported on her condition, is that she has really taken to her bicycle, “giving her mom grey hairs in the process”.
“We had two weeks of sea, sand, and warm swimming pools, and the girls really enjoyed it,” said Ashley’s mom, Klarissa.
“At the moment, Ashley’s development and progression is going as it should, and we are really looking forward to September.”
September will of course be when Ashley goes for her follow-up MRI, to check up on the condition of the VOGM.
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