EPISODE #003 – John Eli
DIAGNOSIS:
BACKGROUND:
John Eli is an 8-year-old boy who is the youngest of 3 siblings. His father died of liver cancer when he was only one year old, thus he is being raised by a single mom.
At age 3, his mother noticed that he was still not able to talk and walk yet. So, he was brought to a neurologist in Baguio City for evaluation. Her fear was confirmed. John Eli was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy Spastic Quadriplegic with epilepsy.
Due to limited finances, he was never enrolled in school. At 8 years old, he does not know the alphabet at all but can identify colors, some animals, and numbers from 1 to 10 only. Since he does not talk, he only nods his head when asked if an item is yellow or red, or blue in color. Same if asked if the animal is a dog or a cat.
With his mobility issue, John Eli cannot eat on his own. He is always fed by his mother who stands as a full-time caregiver for him. He has difficulty chewing and swallowing his food, so he is only eating bread dipped in milk most of the time. If it is solid food, it is usually blended. However, his favorite is just bread. Occasionally, he would eat Quaker Oats or rice porridge. He rubs his belly when he is hungry.
His maintenance meds include Baclofen to treat muscle pain, spasm, and stiffness; Carbamazepine for epilepsy, and Taurine for brain vitamins. Every three months, he gets financial assistance from the Dept of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in two different amounts. Sometimes he gets P3,000 which lasts about 10 days and sometimes P5,000, which is sometimes stretched to a month. Therefore, he is out of meds for more than two months before the next financial assistance comes in.
His normal day is mostly just watching Ryan’s World on YouTube on his mom’s cell phone for many hours as they do not have a television at home. He is just a homebody boy who does not go out of the house at all. He just watches the kids from the window but easily gets frustrated as he could not play with them.