Eight-year-old boy needs $80,000 for medication

Kaffir McKenzie was diagnosed with a debilitating blood condition when he was two years old. He has what doctors call beta-thalassemia, which is a disorder that causes the body to make less haemoglobin than normal.

The eight-year-old boy requires regular blood transfusions and medication, without which he could suffer seizures, or even die. The cost for his medication, which is not available in the public sector, is $280,000 per month.

Side hustle

His mother, Earlene Johnson, 35, said that she is struggling to find all the funds to buy medication. Johnson, a security guard who does a side hustle, has $200,000 in hand and is short $80,000.

"I drive and sell like perfume and stuff like that for back-up money. I'm just in a hard position right now," she said. "I'm not sitting down and waiting for handouts, because God help those who help themselves. I just want the assistance of $80,000 for this month," she told THE STAR.

Dr Millicent Broderick, a medical doctor, said beta-thalassemia is very serious. She said that persons with the ailment "are anaemic because they have a low level of haemoglobin and less oxygen is carried around the body".

"Blood is life because it carries oxygen and takes away the waste, so because of the condition, persons will have to get blood transplant on a regular basis for proper functioning. When somebody gets blood all the time, that builds up the iron in his or her body, and too much of one thing is not good. The excess iron will deposit in the liver and there will be a different set of problems," Dr Broderick said.

The monthly supply of 28 tablets, one per day, is used to purge McKenzie's body of the excess toxins.

Persons with the condition will be fatigued easily, experience dizziness and experience delayed growth. However, once persons maintain treatment they can have a normal life expectancy.

Johnson said that she was lucky to receive help to underwrite the cost for her son's treatment. The Ministry of Health and Wellness has funded over $1 million worth of medication for her son, who also benefited from $560,000 from the CHASE Fund for two months' supply of medication. She no longer gets help from those sources and is now hoping that would change.

"I wouldn't mind a lifetime of help until he is able to get a bone marrow transplant surgery done, It is a 99.9 per cent (possibility) that it will cure the disease," she told THE STAR.

Earlene Johnson may be contacted via telephone at (876) 332-1720. Donations may also be made directly to her bank account at the Morant Bay branch of the National Commercial Bank. Her account number is 644423840. The name on the account is Earlene Johnson.