Eighteen-year-old Dylan is special. The short lad from Seychelles managed to move a roomful of seasoned surgeons and doctors to tears. And make no mistake about it, these doctors are the best dental and facio-maxillary minds in the world. Born with a failing kidney and a rare auto-immune condition that rendered his bones brittle and fragile, Dylan’s story is one of those beating-the-odds stories that makes for great legends.
“When Dylan was diagnosed with kidney failure at the age of seven, his parents were advised by their government to seek help here,” recalls Dr S M Balaji, dental surgeon and official consultant recognised by the Government of Seychelles.
Dylan and his mother Marcelle finally arrived here and the boy underwent a kidney transplant (the donor was his aunt) when he was 10 years old.
“He was very unlucky. His body rejected a kidney and he needed to have his own organ removed to save his life,” adds the surgeon.
Grappling with renal failure in a country like Seychelles is difficult, says Dylan, “I had no kidney and they had no nephrologist there,” he manages a smile, “Thankfully there was one place that was able to give me the dialysis I needed to survive,” he adds. In fact, Dylan’s condition would have gone undetected if his mother hadn’t run into an Egyptian doctor who suspected that there was ‘some organ problem’ with him, when he was four.
Despite having to have dialysis thrice a day, Dylan seems reasonably cheerful as he describes his work as a graphic designer, “You know,” he says after a little thought, “It’s only here that everybody is looking at me with the knowledge that I am sick. Back home, I’m as normal as anyone else,” he says.
However, the renal failure and the auto-immune disease (glomerular nephritis) had been sapping the calcium from his bones steadily, till his skeletal system was sapped of pith. His parathyroid glands were also affected, heightening the condition. “It always affects the jaw first. That’s why he has developed a Brown’s tumour just below his mouth,” says Dr Balaji.
Dylan and his mother arrived in Chennai on Saturday and his case was presented before international research scholars like Rena D’Souza, president of American Association for Dental Research, Gerhard Seeberger, president of European Regional Organization — FDI and many others.
As Dr Balaji explained how he was planning to remove Dylan’s jaw, excise the tumour and reconstruct the entire jaw again — a surgery that has earned him much acclaim — several surgeons offered their expertise in genetics, dentistry and reconstruction and even offered financial assistance. Though Dr Balaji was overwhelmed with the help, he was focused on finding whether other bones in Dylan’s body had similar problems. “The surgery will not be easy, but this boy’s will to live is something phenomenal,” he says, wiping a tear out of his eye.
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