Email

Print

Remember Linda Wade? She is the mother we met last august who couldn’t eat because of a rare condition known as Achalasia. At its worst, Wade’s weight had plummeted from 250 to just one hundred pounds. Her prognosis was grim until doctors at the Healthcare Partners Hospital agreed to surgically correct the problem for free. 7News was at Wade’s bedside before and during the surgery and today we were with her at lunch. Keith Swift reports on why that in and of itself is news.

Keith Swift Reporting,
Today Linda Wade is able to do something she wasn’t able to when we met her in August of 2008 – eat.

Linda Wade, Can Eat
“I can eat now. That is a big change and I thank God for it. See, I can eat anything.”

She couldn’t eat back then because of a rare medical condition known as Achalasia which prevented her from digesting food.

[August 2008]
Dr. Irvin Gabourel, Gastroenterologist
“In Linda’s case her lower muscle, the one that connects to the stomach, wasn’t working properly – it was in spastic – it was hard – it couldn’t open. So whatever she drinks or whatever she ate wasn’t going anywhere.”

For ten years she battled Achalasia – losing both weight and back then – hope.

[August 2008]
Linda Wade,
I got frustrated, angry with my kids. We wanted to go have food out there and I can’t sit and eat with them in restaurants because I have to get up and throw up. It was really discouraging. One spell I wanted to give up in life because I didn’t know what was the problem.”

We were inside the operating room in August when she underwent surgery to correct the problem. It was the first time the surgery was being performed in Belize.

[August 2008]
Dr. Venny, Surgeon
“The surgery basically involves dividing the muscles of the lower esophagus and you always go about three centimetres on the upper portion of the stomach.”

It was a 90 minute procedure which was supposed to correct the problem but it didn’t – at least not on the first try.

Linda Wade,
“In a couple of weeks I started to throw up back, I went to visit the doctor and he said he needed to do another surgery and in November I went and did that and from November to now, no problem.”

In fact – if anything – wade who has returned to her job as a school warden says she is overweight.

Linda Wade,
“It was 143 and now I have 201.”

But more than just the weight – the 35 year old Linda says she’s also regained a life.

Linda Wade,
“I can do things much better and not feeling weak. I can’t say I am tired, I am more healthier, I feel good about that. There is no more complaining and I got a real life by a gentleman coming in and saying well if I would like to marry him and he cares about me. And now I can go anywhere. I can have burger or fried chicken or whatever I can eat along with them, no problem.”

No problem – and given what she has been through – we can appreciate why.

There is no guarantee that Wade won’t require surgery in the future. Achalasia affects one person in every one-hundred thousand in the United States, so it’s considered very rare. Linda Wade is one of two people known to have it in Belize, but there may be more.