Man appeals for help

Hydrocephalus is a condition when water accumulates in the brain, causing the head to grow disproportionately big.
The disease on eight-year-old Memory has also affected her sight and her left hand and leg have since been crippled.
In an interview, Mr Zateko, a member of the Johanne Marange Apostolic sect, said he was now seeking financial help after several efforts to have the girl healed through prayers and “holy waters” had failed.

Johanne Marange is one of the many apostolic sects that do not believe in sending children and their members to hospital for treatment.
“I am a member of the Johanne Marange apostolic sect and I have been to various apostolic sects to have my daughter healed but all have not worked.
“When I realised that her condition continued to deteriorate, I then recently decided to visit a local medical doctor who then indicated that she is suffering from hydrocephalus.

The doctor said up to               $12 000 was needed for her to undergo a surgical operation,” said Mr Zateko, who is unemployed.
He said the doctor indicated to him that the girl’s head now had too much water which needed to be drained.
“I am not employed and I cannot raise the amount of money which is needed to help my daughter and am therefore appealing to the corporate world to assist financially,” he said.

He said the problem started when Memory was four years old.
“Now she cannot eat on her own and her sight and the left hand and left leg have also been affected. She can no longer stand on her own and neither is she stable when seated,” he said.

Meanwhile, a prominent Gweru medical doctor, Dr Fabian Mashingaidze, said a surgical operation on the girl could have been done when she was still fours years old to avoid severe brain damage.
“Hydrocephalus is a condition whereby there is water in the brain.

“This water compresses the brain thereby damaging it and this water should have been drained when she was still  four years when the symptoms were discovered to minimise the brain damage,” he said.

Dr Mashingaidze said the girl needed to be put on what he called a VP shunt which drains the water in her brain into the abdomen.

“There is still hope on the girl but the damage has already been done,” he said.
Mr Zateko can be found at house number 1048 Mkoba Village 13 or can be contacted on mobile number 0773247597.