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SINGAPORE - A travel agency employee, 61, is mourning the loss of his 4-year-old toddler after his baffling death due to a mysterious condition.
The child named Mohammed was suddenly stricken with a fever on boxing day.
Despite rushing him to the emergency room immediately, the boy's limbs had turned cold and his breathing had ceased by the time they got to the hospital.
When he realised what had happened, the boy's father desperately pleaded with hospital staff for help.
15 minutes later the boy was pronounced dead by doctors.
Puzzled and shocked by his young son's sudden passing, the toddler's father said: "I still don't know what condition my son suffered from".
The grief-stricken father told Wan Bao on December 27 that his son had already been experiencing health problems when he was just four months old.
"At the time, I noticed that he drank milk very slowly and his weight was also much lighter than other babies his age," he said.
He also added that a subsequent check at the hospital revealed that there were abnormalities in the baby's brain and bladder.
Lost ability to walk, smile and talk
The doctor recommended that Mohammed be fed a fluid diet through a feeding tube, and the tube would have to be changed at the hospital every few months or so.
After he turned one, Mohmmed's health worsened by the day and he experienced cramps on an average of 2 to 3 times daily.
Although the doctor suggested that surgery be done, the idea was scrapped after the instability that his young age imposed was taken into consideration.
Mohammed was enrolled in special school but had to be taken out of school because he had lost the ability to walk, smile or talk.
He spent long periods of time in bed and had to be wheeled around in a trolley whenever he went out.
"It was heartbreaking," the father recalled during the interview with the Chinese daily at the morgue.
He has another son, aged 11.
Because of his strange illness, Mohammed had to take regular medicines which cost an average if $1,500 a month.
Regular visits to the hospital also chalked up medical and hospitalisation fees of a hefty $56,000 in total.
He managed to have Mohammed's medical fees cut down to $90 a month after relaying his problem to Tampines GRC MP Irene Ng.