Stories From The Field
Tayana Francois
Tayana
Francois, a three-month-old baby girl, has been a patient at Grace
Children's Hospital since February 19th. She was admitted to the
inpatient ward with a severe case of tuberculosis. It is believed
that Tayana contracted the disease from her grandmother who is a
carrier of TB and has been treated off and on, at a non-ICC clinic,
since 2000. Tayana's mother, Carmelle, brought her baby to Grace
Children's Hospital due to a referral from a family friend, whose
own daughter was successfully treated at the hospital a few years
ago.
When Tayana was admitted to the inpatient ward her mother took
the news very hard. Although Carmelle knew that her baby would receive
excellent care at Grace Children's Hospital, she was distressed
over the thought of having to leave her baby for treatment. The
average stay for a TB patient is generally two to three months.
In addition, Carmelle and her family, including her husband and
four-year-old-daughter, live in Leogane, a village 50 kilometers
south of Port-au-Prince. She knew it would be difficult to make
the trip back and forth to see her baby, whom she was breast-feeding,
each day.
Every day, for the first week, Carmelle traveled back and forth,
riding three different tap taps each way, to visit and breast-feed
Tayana. Then, on February 27th, her visits abruptly ceased as the
unrest in Haiti reached an all time high. For several days, as the
people of Port-au-Prince anxiously awaited the arrival of the rebel
forces, the city basically came to a halt. The streets were abnormally
quiet as stores closed their doors, tap taps stopped running their
routes and families took refuge in their homes in fear of the violence
that was sure to ensue.
For five agonizing days Carmelle was unable to get to her baby.
Carmelle was so distraught that on March 2nd she set out early in
the morning and pleaded, begged and bribed until she found a taxi
driver that would agree to take her to Port-au-Prince. Even after
paying the taxi driver a substantial fee, he would still only agree
to transport her to the outskirts of the city. From there she had
to walk the rest of the way to Grace Children's Hospital. Carmelle
walked, ran and even had to hide to protect herself from the violence
in the streets that threatened to engulf her. Fortunately, Carmelle
reached Grace Children's Hospital safely and was reunited with her
infant daughter.
As of today, Carmelle is continuing her daily, precarious journey
from her home to her baby at Grace Children's Hospital. Carmelle's
love and devotion for Tayana far outweighs any concerns for her
personal safety. Thankfully, Tayana is responding positively to
her TB treatments and is doing remarkably well. Unless there are
any unforeseen complications, Tayana is scheduled for release from
the hospital at the end of April and will return home to Leogane
with her mother.
