Hope for baby Zayden

Earlier this year Leonie van Aswegen was entrusted with the most precious gift of all – the gift of life.

On February 20 she gave birth to a beautiful baby boy named Zayden. At first he seemed perfectly healthy, but after two weeks his mother noticed a fever, a hissing sound and a concerning amount of vomiting.

“We took him to the hospital’s casualty section and they told us it was nothing to worry about – he was developing an asthma chest. However, a week later we saw that his breathing was fast, he did not want to drink as much as always, and he was very uncomfortable,” Leonie said.

“We took him to Life Wilgeheuwel Hospital’s casualty section for a second opinion. One of their cardiologists had a look and informed me that Zayden has a hole in the bottom of his heart between the two ventricles (muscular VSD) which causes the oxygenated and deoxygenated blood to mix.”

They immediately started with treatment. Not long thereafter he started losing weight, refused to finish his bottle and was admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Another sonar was done and more than one hole was noticed (multiple muscular VSD).

“He did extremely well in the NICU and finished all his bottles. After two days at home he struggled to drink his bottle without vomiting. He was admitted to the NICU once again and was there for three or four days before being discharged. After two more days, he started crying at feeding time and his breathing was very fast.”

“We took him back to the hospital and the casualty doctor told me it was normal but I did not feel comfortable with it because I knew there was something wrong with my child. We then took him back to his cardiologist. By this time he was refusing to take his bottle again. After another sonar he was admitted to the Paediatric High-Care Unit.”

A nasogastric tube had to be inserted to keep little Zayden fed. After a few days he started vomiting again and was sent for a swallow test to determine if he had reflux. During this exercise, they noticed that something was wrong with his oesophagus.

He was referred to a gastroenterologist and transferred to Mediclinic Midstream in Olifantsfontein in May. Tests showed that Zayden had severe reflux and a peg had to be inserted into his stomach. According to Leoni his vomiting decreased significantly.

Little Zayden was eventually discharged later in May after about three months in and out of various hospitals.

“He’s doing really well at home. He’s currently still feeding through the peg to help him gain weight. At the moment our medical bills are already R70 000, and we have not yet received all the medical and hospital bills,” Leonie said.

“Also, Zayden’s special milk (Infatrini) costs us R4 800 per month. Changing his milk formula to a cheaper formula is out of the question, as it is the only milk on which he gains weight, as the protein levels are very high.”

If you are interested in helping little Zayden, feel free to visit his BackaBuddy page here.