Kenyan President pays travel costs for girl with rare condition to have surgery in Canada

A Kenyan baby who’s receiving treatment in Canada for a rare condition is getting help from a powerful player. The President of Kenya is donating Sh500,000 (approximately C$6,300) to the family of baby Fidelis Muthoni, who’s in Canada to get surgery for frontal encephalocele.

The condition is a rare disorder where the bones of the skull do not fully close, leading it to create a gap through which cerebral spinal fluid, brain tissue and the meninges – the membrane that covers the brain – can protrude into a sac-like formation.

The president announced he was going to help the family after hearing that Sh2.8 million (approximately C$35,672) in funds raised for travel and lodging had been stolen by a conman. Kenyan news also reports that the governor of Murang’a, Mwangi Wairia, donated Sh300,000 (approximately C$3,816) to the family to help facilitate their stay in Canada.

Canadian doctors offered the baby girl free medical care as long as her family was able to arrive in the country by Friday. The family rushed to have everything in order in the time frame they were given. The little girl is expected to recover in six months.

“I cannot express my gratitude to all those who stood with my family and helped organize for my wife and daughter’s travel to Canada,” Muthoni’s father, Kenneth Kinuthia told The Star newspaper.

It’s also been reported that the man alleged to have stolen the money is now in police custody.