Having your child fall ill must be a parent’s worst nightmare. Local actor-host Marcus Chin’s daughter Elise was admitted into a hospital in Johor Bahru recently after her mother, Eileen Cheah, noticed her having frequent nosebleeds, up to two to three times a day.
Cheah told Shin Min Daily News in an interview yesterday (March 28) that doctors revealed that nosebleeds are a symptom of epilepsy, which was confirmed with brain scans.
Epilepsy is also hereditary, Cheah was told.
She said: “We didn’t know. Marcus went to ask his brother and found out that his brother suffers from epilepsy too. It has been hidden in our daughter’s body for 12 years.”
Marcus, who separated from Cheah in 2011, also told the Chinese daily in an earlier interview on March 22 that epilepsy runs in his family, with his brother’s children and grandchildren being diagnosed as well.
The 69-year-old also elaborated about the tests Elise had to undergo.
“She needs to be admitted to the hospital for 10 days. In the first two days, her head will be ‘bandaged’, and her brain waves will be checked,” he said.
However, Elise, who turns 13 this year, was discharged after six days on March 24.
Cheah revealed that Elise was first hospitalised on Dec 30 last year after she had an epileptic episode and fainted, with her lips turning black.
At the time, doctors ran tests on the young girl and she had to spend the full 10 days, including the new year, at the hospital.
This time, Cheah assured that Elise was not as scared as her first hospital visit.
“Elise’s condition has stabilised, but she has to take two kinds of medicine a day and has to go to the hospital for follow-up visits every three weeks,” Cheah said. “I feel sorry for my daughter.
“She actually had symptoms before. For example, she wouldn’t respond sometimes when I talked to her, which is one of the symptoms of epilepsy, but we didn’t know it then.”
Elise’s medications come with some side effects — her appetite is affected and the young girl who was previously “always gentle” has become quite irritable.
Her mum is also avoiding giving her fried food, to “prevent heatiness” and not accelerate the onset of her episodes.
Cheah, who has two younger daughters as well, said: “I told them, ‘When your older sister is sick, remember not to quarrel with her and don’t talk back to her’.
“They both love their older sister and are very obedient.”
With the school term in Malaysia beginning in April, Cheah is currently managing Elise’s illness at home, though she has already informed the school about her daughter’s diagnosis.
