Baby girl with a ‘rock hard’ tangle of blood vessels in her neck
Heartbreaking images of a baby girl with a solid mass on her neck: A rock hard tangle of blood vessels has left the 10-month-old disfigured and she faces a race against time for surgery
- Kaokuchangti Reang, from India, has an arteriovenous malformation (AVM)
- Doctors warn her condition is ‘decreasing by the day’ and she needs surgery
- But her mother is unable to afford the 500,000 Rupees (£5,645) sum quoted
- Baktirung, who has no husband, has now received help from a local charity
Heartbreaking pictures have emerged of a baby girl in India facing a race against time for surgery to remove a solid mass on her neck.
Kaokuchangti Reang has an arteriovenous malformation (AVM) – a tangle of blood vessels under the skin causing disfigurement.
Doctors warn her condition is ‘decreasing by the day’ and have quoted a sum of 500,000 Rupees (£5,645) for treating the ‘rock hard marble’ mass.
But her poverty-stricken mother is unable to afford such a fee and has resorted to fundraising, in a last ditch hope for her 10-month-old daughter.
Baktirung, 20, who has no husband, has now received help from a local charity, who have today begged kind-hearted strangers to donate.
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Kaokuchangti Reang has an arteriovenous malformation (AVM) – a tangle of blood vessels under the skin causing disfigurement (pictured recently)
In a heartbreaking interview with local reporters, Baktirung said: ‘We have no money, many people have volunteered to help we owe them our lives.’
She first approached doctors in a remote village where she lives, when her daughter had a ‘cough and cold’ – but these are not known symptoms of an AVM.
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Medics in North Tripura – in the north east of the country – were unable to confirm what was wrong with Kaokuchangti.
As her condition continued to worsen, Baktirung took her to the AGMC Hospital in Agartala – a 124 miles (200km) journey west.
Doctors warn her condition is ‘decreasing by the day’ and have quoted a sum of 500,000 Rupees (£5,645) for treating the ‘rock hard marble’ mass (pictured with her mother Baktirung, 20, before the mass started to grow)
ARTERIOVENOUS MALFORMATIONS: WHAT ARE THEY?
An arteriovenous malformation (AVM) is a specific term used to describe a tangle of blood vessels with abnormal connections between arteries and veins.
High pressure arteries containing fast flowing blood are directly connected to low pressure veins, which normally only contain slow flowing blood.
This means that blood from the arteries drains directly into the veins – without stopping to supply the normal tissues in that part of the body with essential substances like oxygen and nutrition.
Over time this can lead to the normal tissues becoming painful or fragile.
It also means that the AVM gets progressively larger over time as the amount of blood flowing through it increases, and it can cause problems due to its size.
Finally, it may also mean that the heart has to work harder to keep up with the extra blood flow.
Some doctors describe an AVM as ‘a ring road that bypasses the high street of a town’.
Traffic (or blood) will use the bypass rather than the high street which suffers as a result.
AVMs are thought to affect approximately 1.4 in every 100,000 people.
Source: Great Ormond Street Hospital
But doctors face a race against time as they claim Kaokuchangti needs immediate treatment, as her condition is ‘decreasing by the day’.
Issac Kaipeng, of the unnamed community group that stepped in to help, said he was ‘shocked’ to see Kaokuchangti’s condition.
He told local reporters: ‘I came to know about this girl through a local source and really wanted to help her.’
‘Her family did not even have proper knowledge where to consult and which hospital to get, let alone be the line of treatment.
‘We brought her to AGMC then and got her treatment started there. But we had limited funds, we hope people come forward to help this baby get some help.’
Issac told local reporters Indian doctors quoted a sum of 500,000 Indian Rupees, which he said was a ‘huge’ amount for the family.
The 38-year-old added: ‘The doctors have said she needs an immediate treatment as her condition is decreasing by the day.’
Issac has started a fundraising page for those wanting to donate towards treatment.
Doctors there diagnosed Kaokuchangti’s neck mass as an AVM and revealed she had congestive heart failure – a little-known symptom.
The first part of treatment has already started at the AGMC Hospital – but details of the procedure have yet to surface in local reports.
Baktirung, who works as a wage labourer with a meagre income, has been asked to take her daughter outside the state for further treatment when is stable.
After pleading for help to treat her ‘healthy’ and ‘joyful’ girl, a local charity stepped in to desperately try and raise the money needed.
Baktirung, 20, has now received help from a local charity, who have today begged kind-hearted strangers to donate (pictured with Kaokuchangti before her mass started to grow)
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