Clock ticking for stroke victim to get surgery

Mickayla Thomas is running a race against time to save her 61-year-old mother's life.

Hyacinth Walton suffered a stroke on February 3 and was recently discovered to have a brain aneurysm that doctors say is in a complicated position in the frontal lobe. She requires surgery and Thomas must find at least $6 million to carry out the medical procedure for her mother. The 21-year-old, who is currently employed as a quality analyst in the business processing outsourcing sector, recalled when her mother fell ill while watching a comedy on YouTube.

"She had a seizure during that time. We checked her blood pressure. She was there, so jovial and we were joking. I was looking about something for her to eat and we were there fooling around, laughing and stuff. I stepped out for a couple seconds and I heard her making some funny noises. I stepped back in and said 'Mommy' and I see that she not responding. I went back over to her and she wasn't breathing. She was shaking and I applied some pressure to her chest and blew in her mouth and I saw she started to fight. She start get stiff, her head a twist, everything just all over the place," Thomas recounted.

Walton, who suffers from hypertension, had a blood pressure reading of 204 over 110. Moments later, Thomas, who is the youngest of five children but the one who does everything for Walton, was assisted by her spouse and neighbours to transport her mother to the nearest medical facility. On February 6, Walton was admitted to the Spanish Town Hospital and had to undergo a computerised tomography scan, which determined her critical condition and the need for surgery. Three days later, she was transferred to the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI), where a team of five surgeons indicated to the St Catherine resident that her mother has at least two weeks until the brain aneurysm erupts, which may be fatal.

Doctors are seeking to do emergency surgery to stop internal bleeding in Walton's brain. But due to the lack of space in the hospital's Intensive Care Unit, a surgery date cannot be set. Thomas said that doctors are trying to find space for her mother.

"She's been having headaches eight days straight, until [February 12] she had some relief. She hasn't had any more seizures. They say she is basically a part of the one per cent [of persons in the world] that would survive an aneurysm erupting in the brain, plus [having] seizures and strokes. Especially for her age, they are saying that they never expect her to even get to the hospital," she explained.

Thomas told THE STAR that her mother is having difficulty seeing and hearing people, so she is appealing to Jamaicans to assist in saving her life.

"She is my best friend. I talk to her about every and anything. She is always my go-to person, so we have a very good relationship. She is a very important person to a lot of people. She is very much loved. So any help that I can get, even if it's $10, will go a long way. Any help will definitely be appreciated when it comes to her health and treatment," Thomas pleaded.

Persons willing to contribute to Hyacinth Walton's surgery may contact her daughter at 1-876-584-6415 or contribute via the link-https://gogetfunding.com/campaigning-for-brain-surgery/#.YgUixhEoH2c.wha.... Hyacinth Walton is also in need of blood. Persons who are O-negative can donate at the Blood Bank or the UHWI in her name.