Seven-month-old gets heart’s desire
Family grateful, medics hopeful as infant has third procedure
Published:Friday | April 29, 2022 | 12:09 AMJudana Murphy/Gleaner Writer
Seven-month-old twins Kaile and Kaila Mason have spent much of their short lives apart.
When she was just a day old, Kaile was whisked away from the Victoria Jubilee Hospital in downtown Kingston to the nearby Bustamante Hospital for Children (BHC) for an echocardiogram.
Doctors detected an abnormality and since then she has had three cardiac interventions.
Little Kaile underwent her first heart procedure at one month old, had major surgery in February 2022, and went home for the first time after that recovery.
The infant was again taken to hospital on Sunday for a third cardiac procedure and her father, Tajay Mason, said her release from hospital yesterday has brought relief to the family.
While she was hospitalised, Mason and Kaile’s mother took turns to ensure that she was visited daily and also ensure the well-being of Kaila at home.
“It was difficult, but I got to take her twin to meet her in the hospital and they played a little and things like that. She has been doing very well since that procedure two days ago,” Mason told The Gleaner.
Kaile was among 10 children whose hearts were mended this week at the BHC, through Chain of Hope, Gift of Life, Rotary Club International and Abbott.
“Thank you for all the hard work that you have been doing. I appreciate it a lot and not just me alone, so a big thank you,” the 28-year-old father said to the team.
Consultant paediatric cardiologist Dr John Thomson, of Johns Hopkins Hospital in Maryland, United States, said Kaile was born with a very serious heart problem.
“She was dependent on a little tube in her heart that we had to keep open with medicine to keep her alive. If that tube closed, she would’ve died and the only way that we could get her to improve was to do a procedure to open up a blocked artery in her lung artery,” he explained.
Thomson said the procedure in February was extremely difficult and Kaile spent a number of weeks in the intensive care unit recovering.
“I knew that there was still some narrowing in the lung vessel and that it needed to be restretched with a balloon, so we came back this time to do a mission and stretch that for her the day before yesterday with a really nice result,” he said with a smile.
A REAL BLESSING
Thomson, who was accompanied on the medical mission by an intensive care nurse, a catheterisation lab nurse, a radiographer and a cardiac physiologist, said he is confident that Kaile will go on to live a normal life.
“It’s a real blessing. A very brave little girl and a brave family,” Thomson remarked.
The mission is focused on conducting keyhole procedures guided by X-rays, which allow the medical team to make very accurate assessments of the heart and treat problems detected.
“We’ve closed a number of abnormal connections. We’ve put plugs into holes and we’ve treated children with plugs who will not need treatment after that. The plan is to treat 13 children and we’ve done 10 so far,” Thomson said.
Meanwhile, BHC consultant cardiothoracic surgeon Dr Sherard Little said the cardiology team from Chain of Hope has been working with the local team to help children with congenital heart diseases.
Little explained that about two decades ago, children would have to go to surgery and have their chest opened.
“With technology, a lot of this can be done without any major cuts on the chest. Over the course of this week, 10 children received interventions and they are all doing well. Unlike having had surgery, they are all up and running around and in good health,” he said.
Little added that the hospital has a long waiting list of more 200 children in need of cardiac catheterisation and surgery.
“Over the course of COVID-19, things slowed down quite a bit, so our waiting list increased, but, hopefully, with the pandemic tapering off, we are ramping up our efforts to try and address that waiting list,” he said, adding that for the remainder of the year, there will be several visiting teams – almost one each month.
“One of the reasons these missions are important is that we have had challenges retaining our staff at the Bustamante children’s hospital. Over the last several years, we have seen a mass exodus of nurses and other trained professionals, so when these teams come in, they bring their staff to assist us in areas where our staff is short,” he explained.
Little reasoned that if staffing issues are resolved, there will be less need for medical missions in the future.