Baby Dakari Shorey may soon be on a road to recovery.
That is because he has been approved for the first of three surgeries to be performed this weekend when he is flown to the United States.
The six-week-old suffers from a condition known as congenital synoptic heart disease, which means that rather than having four chambers of the heart, he has only one.
Dakari’s first surgery is known as a Blalock-Taussig shunt (BT shunt). It is used to help increase blood flow to the lungs in babies born with defects that obstruct.
The surgery entails opening the chest either through a left or a right thoracotomy approach and placing a Gore-Tex tube from the innominate artery to the pulmonary. This is a palliative procedure, meaning that in most cases the final repair will be done at a later date.
Speaking to Barbados TODAY this afternoon ahead of Sunday’s trip, Darwyn Shorey, Dakari’s father, said the entire family was excited, but at the same time very anxious about the upcoming procedure.
“We are very nervous, but we know he will be fine; he’s a little fighter. He is stable today and feeling better, but this is step one. The hard part is the surgery and then recovery,” he said as he busily finalized the details of the trip.
A doctor will be accompanying them along with the baby’s mother Nyesha Jones. Shorey said they were expected to arrive at the Wolfson’s Children’s Hospital in Jacksonville, Florida, sometime on Sunday, but further explained physicians at that hospital were as well expected to conduct more tests on the baby. He said they were not sure when the operation was expected to take place, but noted there were plans already in place for their stay in the United States until it occurred.
The BT shunt is estimated to cost US$35,000 which was approved by the Queen Elizabeth Hospital; however, another US$117,000 is still needed for the remaining operations.
Recently, veteran entertainer Richard Stoute conceptualized a free show designed to raise funds for the baby’s operation. The show which will be held on February 16 at Club Marina in The City will see performances from the likes of many-time calypso king Gabby, reigning calypso monarch Ian Webster, Colin Spencer, Mighty Grynner, Smokey Burke, Mr Impact, Mr Dale, Mike Grannum, Richard Stoute and some of the best singers from the Richard Stoute Teen
Talent Contest.
“I am trying to [cope]. People would tell me to keep the faith, but it is not that I don’t have faith –– I do –– but as a young mother and my first child, it hurts. There are some days when I would be uplifted, then there are other days when I would just be down. It is nothing I can control. But I believe he will pull through this; he is a fighter,” the young woman told Barbados TODAY.
Patrons attending the concert are being kindly asked to share love and donate whatever funds they can to assist the baby.
