Milk to 2700 $ per month to allow Liam to survive

QMI agency

Sunday, 14 January 2018 20:15

UPDATE
Sunday, 14 January 2018 20:17

Look at this article

Liam, 18 months, suffers from a very serious food intolerances. To meet his protein needs, he must drink a special milk which costs about 2700 $ per month. The Régie de l’assurance maladie du Québec (RAMQ) refused to pay for it.

The young boy from Saint-Basile-le-Grand is a syndrome is rare and limited to a maximum of what he can eat. Her digestive system rejects most of the proteins contained in food.

“It will turn to vomiting in a jet, to line the walls to the point of dehydration and hypovolemic shock,” says his mother, Jessica Tremblay.

Liam can eat clementines, bananas, pears and coconuts. He also has a feeding tube for those times when he does not want to eat.

A single milk formula

In order to ensure its nutritional needs, it tolerates a single milk formula for infants. This formula is not considered a drug and therefore is not covered by the RAMQ.

For a box of six containers of 200 grams, the couple pays for 730 $.

“As we can not respond to needs with food, the only thing that is 100 % safe, it is this powder. So we can’t afford to say that there is more and that we don’t have the budget for it,” says his mother.

“Liam can drink up to four boxes on a monthly basis. It is, therefore, a total of about 2700 $ a month with taxes,” says her other mother, Genevieve Mastin.

Because of the intolerance of Liam, Jessica Tremblay must stay at home and deprive the couple of a salary. It also has to be a one-time visit for two weeks at the Montreal children’s Hospital for a medical follow-up.

“If I didn’t give him the milk, he’d have to be at the hospital on HAIV, an intravenous nutrition. Just like that, it is about $ 10,000 a day it costs the government,” says Genevieve Mastin.

The couple has launched a campaign sociofinancement for Liam, but asks the government to support the long-term.

“We no longer see the end. We would like to be assisted by the government, because we pay our taxes and we pay our taxes like everyone else. You just want to be equal,” concludes Ms. Mastin.