Four-year-old Bangladeshi trekker dies
Sadman Casper, affectionately known in the trekker community as Chhoto Bhoot (little ghost), breathed his last yesterday at the Intensive Care Unit of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU).
A post operative complication known as aspiration pneumonia caused his death, said BSMMU Director Brig Gen (retd) Abdul Majid Bhuiyan.
After doctors in his hometown Chittagong failed to diagnose his medical condition, four-and-a-half-year-old Casper, son of trekker Tofazzal Hossain Apu, was brought to the BSMMU with nonstop rectal bleeding in the wee hours of Wednesday.
The BSMMU director said doctors at the children's ward had decided to conduct a surgery to find out the cause of the bleeding immediately after the kid was brought here.
As the bleeding receded on Wednesday, doctors decided to wait until it resumed on Friday, he said.
Paediatric surgeon Prof Shafiqul Hoque, who led the surgery, said, “The reason behind the bleeding was an ulcer in one of the trickiest parts of the intestine. Its removal took hours.”
He added the operation was successful, but the postoperative complication that caused Casper's death began more than five hours later.
The complication known as aspiration pneumonia, he explained, is a situation in which liquid secreted in the intestines reaches the respiratory tract causing breathing difficulty and lung infection. Children and older people usually suffer from this complication after surgeries.
According to medical textbooks, Prof Shafiq said, about two percent of the children are born with some forms of ulcer in the intestines. “We conduct around 10 such surgeries every year.”
Muhammad Sadman Casper, quite popular among the trekker community for his love for expeditions at this tender age, wanted to be like his adventurous father Apu, a trekker since 2002 and a member of trekking group “Living with Forest”.
One of his favourite activities was pitching his small tent. Ropes and various trekking equipment were his toys, his father earlier told this newspaper. He already has under his belt the experience of camping with his father in the hills of Sitakunda and Kaptai.
Such a fun-loving kid suddenly fell ill on August 19. With complaints of rectal bleeding, he was admitted to Royal Hospital, a private clinic in the port city.
As numerous tests failed to find the reason behind the bleeding, doctors suggested moving him to the capital.
The family and members of “Living with Forest” opened a Facebook page Casper-er Jonno Cholun Kichhu Kori (Let's Do Something for Casper).
Through the social media platform and other networks, they were trying to contact doctors and specialists at home and abroad, who might come up with an explanation and cure for the child's ailment.