Tonight we have some encouraging news to report on a Belizean baby
who was born with a severe heart defect. Four month old Lionsford Reyes was
desperately in need of a life saving surgery that could not be performed in
Belize. Today the infant’s aunt Carol Smith who resides in Tampa, Florida
told 7News that her nephew thanks to the quick response by the Gift of Life
Programme and the St. Joseph’s Children Hospital he is alive tonight.
His mom Shamika Smith travelled to the US at the end of January, where doctors
discovered that he was suffering from a number of heart complications. Baby
Lionsford Reyes underwent surgery to also help him to breathe better and tonight
he remains in the hospital’s intensive care unit. Here’s the story
from Channel 9 in Tampa.
[Channel 9]
This morning here at St. Joseph Children’s General Hospital a four
month old boy underwent heart surgery giving him a new leash on a life, a leash
that was free.
Shamika Smith, Mother
“He was so active, no one would believe that he was sick.”
But Lionsford Reyes was sick. Shamika Smith travelled from Belize to
Tampa for the surgery.
Shamika Smith,
“First thing he would get fussy, he would get blue.”
The doctor let us watch him perform the surgery this morning. He corrected
Lionsford’s heart defect in a four hour procedure.”
Doctor,
“He had a four hour procedure and everything went well. He is in the
ICU now.”
A surgery that was the combined effort of St. Joseph Hospital and the
Gift of Life Programme. A child holding his mother’s hands for comfort
and a mother overjoyed that her baby is okay.
Shamika Smith,
“It was an experience to me but I stuck it out because it is for my
baby and that is all that matters to me.”
Baby Reyes is expected to remain in the ICU for at least two weeks.
According to Carol Smith the prognosis is promising and her little nephew is
a fighter so she is optimistic that Baby Reyes will be okay however she says
he will need many more operations.
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