Joy for mother whose baby lost both legs after birth

Baby Emmanuel Kariuki runs excitedly along the corridors of Kenyatta National Hospital.

He has come for his second prosthetic surgery at the hospital.

Kariuki was born with congenital disease of the kidney in 2017. The five-year-old is the third born in a family of four.

Congenital kidney problems occur when a baby's kidneys and urinary tract do not form properly while developing in their mother's womb. These problems are present at birth.

His mother, Mary Wanjiku, a resident of Juja Farm, discovered her son was having a problem just one week after he had left hospital. He had been born a normal child.

Wanjiku went back to the hospital where she had given birth, and was given a referral letter to Kenyatta National Hospital. Around this time, the child's legs were turning black.

“Kariuki was first put on kidney treatment, but the legs were getting worse. When the doctors did their investigation they realised the legs could not heal so they said the only way out was amputation,” the mother said.

According to the Head of Department Orthopaedic technology at KNH Dr John Ondiege, kidney problem interferes with the normal flow of the blood, making the baby to end up with gangrenous foot.

Gangrene is a serious condition where a loss of blood supply causes body tissue to die and it occurs when blood flow to a certain area of the body is interrupted.

It can affect any part of the body, but typically starts in the toes, feet, fingers and hands.

“There is something we do when a child is born in the ward that checks all the body parts of a child and that gives us the visual deformities that can be seen,” the medic said.

After the surgery, baby Kariuki was fitted the prosthesis by experts at KNH to aid in his walking.

“The first prosthesis for the child we kind of just did it for free because we just wanted to make sure that this child is able to stand and then to encourage the mother so that she could not see things had gone haywire,” Odienge said. 

A prosthesis is estimated to cost not less than Sh200,000 for the both legs.

“Today he is having his second prosthesis because they are growing and as they grow we change this prosthesis,” the medic said. 

Experts say that from birth to the time the child reaches four years, birth defects and hereditary diseases are the leading causes of kidney failure.

Between ages of five and 14, kidney failure is most commonly caused by hereditary diseases while between ages 15 and 19, diseases that affect the glomeruli are the leading cause of kidney failure, and hereditary diseases become less common.

Glomeruli are the tiny network of blood vessels that act as cleaning units of the kidney and they filter waste and remove extra fluids from your blood.

For Wanjiku, it is pure joy to see her son walk on his two feet. She is supposed to return to the hospital to have the prosthetics changed for the third time.

The second time she was charged Sh100,000. This time she thinks it might be more, but the excitement of her son walking overshadows everything.

(edited by Amol Awuor)