Fighting for Tristan

Tristan Suhail Rahim was born on 27 July 2015...at 8 days old he was hospitalized at Grey's NICU, where they discovered that he has a Ventricular septal defect and some obstruction in the intestines...after that it was one hospital stay after another.

He had his first operation when he was 2 months old. The reason for the operation was bowel obstruction. The obstruction caused Tristan's body to go into septic shock. They had put on an ileostomy bag for Tristan,which meant that he would pass stool in a bag that was attached to his abdomen. It took two more surgeries and another obstruction for them to discover that Tristan had hirschsprungs disease. This meant that Tristan had to go for another operation where by they removed the bag,removed his entire colon and did a pull through. Tristan could now at 2years old pass stool normally through the anus.

During these operations they would insert a CVP to administer medication and feeds. Unfortunately due to multiple insertions of CVP's Tristan was diagnosed with superior vena cava syndrome.

With his colon being removed, he has chronic Diarrhoea, which makes it difficult for him to thrive. He has been put on a special diet, specifically meant to constipate him. We adapted to all this and were doing well so we decided to put Tristan in creche so that Tristan's mom could start working again. 

Two months into attending creche ,Tristan started having seizures,so now at 3 years old Tristan was diagnosed with cerebral palsy and epilepsy. As time went on he was doing great, but things took a turn for the worse when the seizures became more frequent. 

He started to get infections often and with some tests they diagnosed him with severe reflux...acid was pushing up from the stomach to the oesophagus thus causing the infections. 

Currently he is admitted in hospital for aspiration pneumonia. He was admitted on the 24th of December 2023. He needs to go for some scans and after that he will be going for another operation. He is 8 years old and the next operation will make it his fifth.

 He still wears diapers because of loose stool and not being able to understand that he needs to use the toilet. He has global developmental delay and eczema. Because of the sensitivity of his skin we have to use what works for him.

He was put onto medication for the seizures that is not distributed in government hospitals,which means we have to buy it.We don't know why a little child has to go through so much but we praise and thank God for bringing our little soldier this far. It's been a long journey and God has never left our side.

Tristan lives with his parents in Johannesburg, South Africa. Making sure that Tristan gets what he needs has become costly, especially since Tristan's dad lost his job. Tristan's mom does not work as he needs special care.

Every cent that is donated will be used for Tristan's care.Thank you in advance for your support .