Gregory gets Melbourne treatment for facial condition
February 7, 2011
Gregory has progressed well since his initial operation.
The apparatus on his head has been moved by 1mm per day to expand his skull cavity to enable his brain to have more room. Other ROMAC patients in recent years have also had similar problems with insufficient space for the brain resulting in the need for this kind of apparatus.
December 4, 2010
SIX-YEAR-OLD Gregory Jack has not closed his eyes for two
years.
Even when sleeping, his eyes only half close, meaning he wakes up with sore, red eyes.
The typically fun-loving and energetic boy has made it all the way to the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne from a tiny island east of Papua New Guinea to have cranial surgery to treat a rare brain disease.
Gregory Jack on arrival (left) and after surgery (right).
So severe is his condition that the swelling of his brain is forcing his eye balls to protrude from their sockets.
Gregory has a genetic disorder called Crouzon's syndrome; his skull and facial bones have been unable to expand as he has grown. He needs surgery to cut and release his facial bones to bring his face forward.
Gregory was discovered two years ago when some holiday-makers from the Barossa Valley were sailing near his home in Siakeu village on Panaeati Island.
The holiday-makers took his picture and on arrival back in South Australia the pictures were seen by someone associated with ROMAC.
A mission to find the boy and get his condition treated was successful.
Now two years later, ROMAC has raised the $40,000 required for Gregory's treatment and Rotary club of Keilor East is looking after him and his uncle Paison Vilen while they are in Australia.
Gregory's parents are subsistence farmers in their village and need to keep working to survive and look after his two older brothers.
Mr Vilen says his nephew doesn't yet realise the importance
of their big trip to the strange big city called Melbourne.
'He told people back in Siakeu that when he goes to Australia they are going to cut his head, but he doesn't know everything.
'If he stayed there he would stay how he is. It would only be through God's grace that he would live, but anything can happen along the way.
Gregory with his uncle
at Keilor East Rotary.
'He says he is a nervous but not scared. He's a very happy boy.'
Gregory was scheduled to undergo surgery on December 11 but faces a long and painful recovery.
He will be fitted with a frame to keep his skull and face together and each day the frame will have to be tightened.
Keilor East Rotary club member David Barnes said the $40,000 for the surgery was raised by Rotary groups around Australia.
