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Thursday, March 28, 2024

World Down Syndrome Day

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Boy, 12, who fell from tree, still critical in hospital; family asking for assistance

HighlightsBoy, 12, who fell from tree, still critical in hospital; family asking for assistance

Graciano Ramos has been hospitalized since February this year. The 12-year-old fell from a tree and fractured his skull. The injury has caused permanent damage to the frontal lobe of his brain.

Graciano is still in the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital, because the swelling in his brain has not gone down yet. He is not talking or moving any other part of his body other than his right fingers. The family has been told that he has a 50-50 chance of recovering.

On Friday, March 22, Graciano will be transferred to the Northern Regional Hospital to continue treatment. The family has been advised to take him to a hospital in Chetumal to receive therapy after the swelling, hopefully, goes down.

Graciano is to return to the KHMH in two months for the doctors to replace the part of his skull that was removed to help reduce the swelling of his brain.

The child’s mother, Mellissa Briceño, said it has been very difficult for her family dealing with the situation.

“It’s something very traumatizing, it’s very hard on us, especially for his younger brother and sister,” she said. “They’ve been missing him and they don’t understand what’s happening to him. It’s something very, very hard on them. It’s very hard on us.”

Briceño said that Graciano, a standard three student of La Immaculada Primary School in Orange Walk, was an active child. He loved heights, and climbing trees was something he enjoyed doing.

Graciano was playing in a tree house on a kinep tree in his neighbor’s yard when his foot got caught between two pieces of wood. He lost his balance and fell out of the tree. He hit his head on a wooden fence, which broke his fall, causing the said injury.

The brain damage was the only injury the child received. He was in a coma for three weeks after the incident occurred. A lung collapsed while he was in the hospital, but it has been treated and he has recovered from that condition.

Briceño wants to thank everyone for their prayers and support, and said she is grateful to her employers, who have given her time off to be with her son. But the family is asking for public assistance in covering the medical expenses.

The child spent about two weeks in the Intensive Care Unit at KHMH and the bill for that is $7,000. They still have not received the bills for admittance into the pediatric ward, medications administered, medical examinations done and ambulance transfers. They are assuming those will amount to over a thousand, as well. The family has spent $915 on medication not administered by the hospital.

Anyone who wishes to assist the family with their medical expenses is asked to contact Briceño at her cell phone number, 627-4563.

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