Recovering brain surgery patient Suzanne Harripersad had a special visitor, yesterday, at the San Fernando General Hospital.
While many were at home opening their presents and sharing memories over traditional family meals, Harripersad, was greeted by her brother, Randy, 29, who wore a Santa Claus suit, and other members of the family.
Just ten days ago, Suzanne, 32, of Sumani Trace, Barrackpore, underwent a ten-hour surgery to remove a tumour from her brain.
Yesterday, she thrilled her relatives by walking from her bed to the corridor, with some assistance, to pose for pictures.
Her mother, Indra Harripersad, said for years Suzanne complained of migraine headaches, but she had no idea she was afflicted with a brain tumour.
“It hasn’t been an easy thing,” Indra said.
“She used to have headaches that would last for half an hour at a time.”
As the years went by, her family members noticed Suzanne walked strangely, and about two years ago her eyes began swelling on a regular basis.
She was taken to an eye specialist, who recommended prescription glasses.
But a visit from a relative who works in a United States hospital may have saved her life.
“A visiting cousin told her to get a head scan because she (the cousin) has a medical background and was suspecting it could be a tumour.”
However, nothing could prepare Indra or her family for the results of the scan.
“They said she had a brain tumour and she needed surgery,” the mother of three said.
Yesterday, Suzanne’s husband of two years, Krishendath Persad, said he could not be happier with the results of her surgery.
He said the Santa visit idea came from the family as a whole, which he said was very close.
He said Suzanne loves to celebrate life, adding there was no way the family could be comfortable celebrating Christmas without her, hence the large family visit.
On December 14, a team of neurosurgeons, including Dr Jinting Lee, Dr Pedro Nunez, Dr Emmanuel Adole, Dr Helen Bissoon, Dr Suresh Boodram and Dr Steve Ramnarace operated on Suzanne.
The T&T Guardian spoke to Lee who said Suzanne’s tumour was the biggest he had ever removed.
“The tumour was on the corner of the cerebellum and her brain stem and it was very huge,” Lee said. “It had severely compressed the brain stem and cerebellum.”
Lee said because of the location of the tumour, the surgeons had to be very precise.
He said medication was being used to treat Suzanne, who will hopefully make a full recovery.