An elderly Pattaya couple is searching for the mother who abandoned a severely impaired child 11 years ago.
Known as “Victoria”, the girl has been afflicted with Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus since she was an infant, but never received treatment. Despite that fact that early surgery could have given the girl a normal life, she’s now bedridden, unable to move, see, talk or have normal bodily functions.
Either ignorant the girl could be treated or unable to afford it, 11 years ago, Victoria’s mother left her in the care of Ngamnit Boonyoo and her husband paying her 1,500 baht a month. After the first month, the woman disappeared.
Ngamnit, now 70, said she has the girl’s birth certificate and the mother’s name and tried to track her down. She found the mother once in Chaiyaphum, but the woman refused to talk to her.
Living with her husband on Soi Mabyailia 21, in East Pattaya, Ngamnit said she not only is growing too old to care for the infirm girl, but also has lost most of her financial support. Where once people donated food and money, it dried up during the coronavirus pandemic.
The couple now has a 4,500-baht monthly salary from their landlord for overseeing his entire property, their government senior pensions and a disability payment.
Ngamnit hopes that media attention will shame the mother into coming to care for her daughter or force authorities to intervene.
NPH is an abnormal buildup of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in the brain’s ventricles, or cavities. It occurs if the normal flow of CSF throughout the brain and spinal cord is blocked in some way. This causes the ventricles to enlarge, putting pressure on the brain.
While NPH can occur in people of any age, it is most common in the elderly. It also may result from a subarachnoid hemorrhage, head trauma, infection or tumor.
But the condition is treatable and Victoria’s condition never had to deteriorate to the point it has.
While the success of treatment with shunts varies from person to person, some people recover almost completely after treatment and have a good quality of life. Early diagnosis and treatment would have improved the chance of a good recovery. Without treatment, symptoms may worsen and cause death.
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