On 6 June 2018 little Inga was born, two weeks later she had a bloated tummy. Her mom took her to the local hospital. Inga spent weeks in hospital while the doctors did blood tests and scans to determine what caused the bloated tummy. On 4 October 2018, she was diagnosed by the local doctors with a pancreatic tumour and referred to Red Cross Hospital.
On arrival at Red Cross doctors felt that she was too weak for surgery. For a month her mom slept next to her bed and watched how her baby’s condition worsened. On 6 November we received an urgent call to transport the dad to Cape Town as Inga was placed on a ventilator. The parents had to decide if they are going to agree to surgery, with a chance of her dying on the operating table.
The parents agreed to surgery and during a lengthy operation a huge growth was removed from her abdomen. Inga was in ICU for a few days and then moved to a normal ward. Her recovery was remarkable.
Test results revealed that the growth was a fetus in fetu – a parasitic twin fetus growing within its host twin. Very early in a monozygotic twin pregnancy, in which both fetuses share a common placenta, one fetus wraps around and envelops the other. The enveloped twin becomes a parasite, in that its survival depends on the survival of the host twin, by drawing on the host twin’s blood supply. The parasitic twin is anencephalic (without a brain) and lacks some internal organs, and as such is unable to survive on its own. As the host twin has to “feed” the enveloped twin from the nutrients received over a single umbilical cord, they usually die before birth.
Today Inga is a beautiful 7-year-old girl with a zest for life. Mom Cyndi believes that, without the support of Wings & Wishes, she would have buried her little girl.
Wings & Wishes – saving lives one trip at a time!
