Jazzel Yap

Jazzel was carried to full term and was borned on 8th Aug 1995. Her apgar score was 9 for 1 min and 10 for 5 min. She weighs 3.56kg at birth. Her height was 50cm and head circumference was 34 cm. She could suck and we thought she was well and normal. Although the first and second day of her life were normal, she developed fever and jaundice on the third day. She was then put under the UV light for treatment of jaundice. Although her jaundice went off subsequently, her fever did not subside. She was given antibiotics for the fever and was hospitalized for 5 days. During that period of observation, the doctor found that Jazzel’s muscle tone had increased and her right finger was deviated to the right and her left fingers were deviated to the left. He did not give any specific diagnosis but hoped that her defects were only localized. In spite of her temperature still hovering around 37 to 37.5 degrees Celsius, we brought her home and continued her antibiotics for another week.

Our nightmare actually started after we brought her home. Jazzel had been a very irritable baby and was not easily consolable. She would start crying after she woke up and could not stop until she fell asleep again. These episodes continued for one month. During her second month of her life, she began to get startled without any reason and would jerk for 3 to 4 second. A neurologist in NUH prescribed anticonvulsant medication for her. She was hospitalized for observation and many tests were performed on her. After trying various anticonvulsant medicines, she was finally given sodium valproate for her fits. The frequency of seizures was gradually reduced from daily to weekly and then monthly. With this medication, she had lost her precious first three years of her life eating and sleeping. She attended Balestier Special School for three years doing PT weekly and OT fortnightly. During that period of time, as parents of first-born child, we absolutely did not know other alternative treatment for our child. The only rehabilitation the hospital provided was PT, OT and speech therapy.

I am thankful to Dr Tan, my family doctor for introducing Glenn Doman Program to me. She took the effort to arrange for me to meet another parent who had done this program. After we attended the WTD course in Dec 1998, I tendered my resignation immediately and did the program faithfully for three and a half years. During this program, she was successfully detoxified of anticonvulsant medication despite the objection and the warning from her doctor that Jazzel would have full-blown epilepsy without the medication. Today her seizures frequency remains at once a week without medication. Her head control became better and she could crawl with the help of inclined plane. She was less sickly and was very much alert than before. Unfortunately, Doman program did not help her physical mobility much. This was why I opened myself to another alternative.

My best friend, Sarah, has taken much effort to search and read about ABR. I thank her for introducing ABR to me. In November 2002, we flew to London together for the ABR program.

Few months ago, I voluntarily joined four other parents in setting up Miracle Kidz Resource Centre. My hope is to provide alternative treatments for our children and to share with others my experience so that they will not have the same frustration that I have gone through. I am glad to be able to help coordinate the work of ABR in Singapore so that it can be made more accessible to other local families in similar situation.

Christine Goh
August 2005