He's only a few days old, but Baby Shamir from Corozal town is getting a miracle for his first Christmas gift. He was born four days ago with a birth defect called "esophageal atresia", or an incomplete esophagus which does not connect to the stomach. That means he can't swallow, can't eat, can't ingest nutrients - basically, he can't survive.
After a post natal gastrostomy was performed at the KHMH, the newborn was immediately referred to World Pediatric Project. Now, it's a million dollar emergency surgery that can only be performed abroad - which is complicated. There's never any guarantee that a specialized medical center will take the child - since it is on a charity basis. And if they do take him, working out all the details just a few days before Christmas - including the very prohibitive cost of an air ambulance to a medical center is time consuming. But, the Virginia Commonwealth University is coming through big time - so big, and so quick that it would make even Santa feel shame.
The Richmond office of the Pediatric Project today confirmed to the Belize office that a complete medical/surgical team from Virginia Commonwealth University is lined up to come for baby Shamir from Richmond to Belize on a private jet on Boxing Day. That's his miracle right there, followed by the million dollar procedure. Today, the local rep for the World Pediatric Project Milagro Garel confirmed that the baby is set to leave on the 26th at noon.
Garel told us they got major help from the Immigration Department, the US Embassy and the KHMH. The World pediatric project has been working in Belize for the past 10 years and this is the 8th case of this exact condition that they have handled.
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