THESE heartbreaking pictures show the struggle of a little boy whose eyes are bulging out of his head due to a rare condition.
Little Jailian Kaipeng, from a remote village in Tripura, north eastern India, lives in constant pain and is slowly losing his eyesight.
He has a rare disorder called orbital pseudotumor, which causes inflammation around the eye.
His sight could be saved if he receives urgent treatment but his parents cannot afford it.
His father, Neirbanglal Kaipeng, 28, and mother Chengmaite, 25, said Jailian, now two, was born a healthy baby but his eyes began to swell when he was just two-months-old.
His condition has continued to get worse.
Neirbanglal, who works as labourer earning just £1.70 a day, said: “His right eye started swelling when he was just two months old.
“A red line would appear and disappear on his eye ball and it’d caused his eye to swell.
“We were very shocked when we first saw it, we had no idea what to do, or who to turn to.”
Jailian’s family took him to see local doctors, but none could diagnose his condition.
“We took him to see our local doctors, but they were baffled,” Neirbanglal added.
“They gave him some medicines and sent us home but his eyes just got worse.”
Eventually the condition spread to his left eye and the swelling got more permanent.
In desperation Neirbanglal sold some of his land for £340 and the family cow for £110 to pay for further doctors appointments.
Neirbanglal added: “We were shocked and helpless by the visibility of his condition.
“I had no idea where to take my son.
“We do not have that kind of knowledge or know how best to help him.
“We had no money to take him to the city hospitals.
“But we wasted time, just sitting and staring at him all day, crying.
“And in that time we could see his eyes getting worse.”
A RARE CONDITION THAT CAUSES THE EYES TO BULGE
Orbital pseudotumor causes inflammation of the tissues surrounding the eyes.
Certain orbital inflammations can look like tumors and are therefore called orbital pseudotumor.
Orbital pseudotumor can affect one or both eyes of relatively young patients.
But they are not a form of cancer.
They can be quite painful and can make a person’s eye protrude.
It can also restrict eye movement and cause damage to their vision.
Orbital pseudotumor can be treated with high dose steroid therapy to reduce the inflammation.
But when steroids are stopped the inflammation can return.
In some cases chemotherapy and radiotherapy may be used in low doses.
In the end, Neirbanglal, Chengmaite, and Jailian and their two other healthy children, Ringdamte, ten, and nine-month-old sister Naote, had to leave their rented accommodation and move in with Chengmaite’s parents.
A nearby Christian Missionary helped the family see a doctor in July who diagnosed Jailian’s condition as orbital pseudotumor.
Neirbanglal said: “The doctor has given my son’s disease a name but he’s done nothing else because we have no money.
“We have no idea what it is, whether it can be cured or what to do next, we’ve had no guidance.
“I have no idea how long we can stay here.
“I am now jobless as we’ve had to move home.
“My wife is always crying. We can’t sleep for worrying about him. It has started affecting our health too.”
Mum, Chengmaite, added: “All the doctors have said we should take him to the big hospitals but they are beyond our affordability.
“People stare at him and are shocked by his condition which breaks my heart.
“All we can do it wait for a miracle to happen. We are in desperate need of help.”
Chengmaite added that Jailian’s condition pushes his eyes forward so much that the lids of his eyes cannot even close.
Dr Shashidhar Tatavarthy, a paediatric surgeon at Artemis Hospital, in Delhi, said: “We need to do a biopsy immediately to confirm the condition and differentiate it from a malignant [cancerous] tumour.
“The boy has not lost his sight yet but if he’s left untreated any longer he could lose his sight completely.
“It is extremely rare to have this condition in a child of two years old.
“Surgery would be very complex but essential. This child needs immediate attention and treatment.”
The family are crowdfunding to get Jailian the help he needs.
You can donate to their cause on their Crowd Funder page here
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