In the news - Feb 2004

In The News

H E A L T H S T O R Y

Scar tells story of Cameron's battle

17 February 2004 By JAYNE HULBERT

BABY TALK: Cameron Craig was diagnosed with hypoplastic left heart syndrome before he was born. Cameron, now nine months old, with his twin brother Michael and parents Cheryl and Chris.
ADRIAN MALLOCH/The Daily News

At only nine months old, Cameron Craig has already beaten the odds – more than once.

Cameron was born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome. In his short life he has had three major operations and six more minor surgical procedures.

At birth doctors had given him a 60% chance of survival.

Today, the only sign that this Pukengahu twin has a serious heart condition is the scar on his tiny chest.

But for parents, Cheryl and Chris, every day is a bonus.

In hypoplastic left heart syndrome, the left side of the heart – including the aortic valve, left ventricle and mitral valve – is underdeveloped.

The left side of the heart is the part that receives oxygen-rich blood from the lungs and pumps it out to the body.

When he was born Cameron's mitral and aortic valves were abnormal so he needed help to keep his blood flowing.

As Mr Craig puts it, Cameron is operating on half a heart and his plumbing is a bit different.

That difference was picked up during one of Mrs Craig's regular scans.

"It was when I had a scan at 28 weeks. The doctor was looking at one of the twin's hearts when they realised there was something serious there," said Mrs Craig, who is secretary of the Taranaki branch of support group Heart Children.

At 30 weeks pregnant she was sent to Auckland's Greenlane Hospital to confirm the scan. There the Craigs were given Cameron's diagnosis and told the prospects for the baby were "not good at all".

Mrs Craig was admitted to National Women's Hospital with toxaemia and it was there that at 34 weeks Cameron and brother Michael were born. They weighed 2kg each.

"I think it wasn't until he was born that we realised how serious it was. I look at it now and think that if Cheryl hadn't been in Auckland, because of her toxaemia he might not be here now," Mr Craig said.

Because of their early arrival the boys were put into incubators and work soon began on keeping Cameron alive.

"They had to move fast. We had him baptised because we just didn't know."

Following two operations at Greenlane, Cameron remained on a machine for six days which performed the work of his heart and lungs. His chest remained open during that time.

Medication was also used to treat him.

When the time came to take him off the machine nobody knew what to expect.

"They decided to do it cold turkey. It's not very often a kid will come off this machine cold turkey and just do OK.

"But he did. The surgeons are amazed he is still here," Mrs Craig said.

However, there were complications.

Cameron has developed hypo-thyroidism and he suffered from a blood disease.

"But he had finally turned a corner."

It wasn't until more than a month after the boys were born that Mr and Mrs Craig were able to hold their two babies together.

"The whole ward was crying."

After more than two months in Auckland, Cameron was allowed to go home – at least to Taranaki Base Hospital.

"I got to the point when I was thinking when is this nightmare going to end and then finally we were allowed to fly home."

Cameron spent another couple of weeks in hospital in New Plymouth.

Since then there has been a further operation and the family are off to Auckland soon for yet another procedure, although they are unsure what the surgeons will decide to do.

"Every day we look at him and think about how fortunate we are. There are others we know that aren't as fortunate as us and we think about them all the time."

Hypoplastic left heart syndrome cannot be corrected and the future for Cameron is uncertain. Somewhere down the line a heart transplant might be an option.

"I know of a child who is eight-years-old who has this syndrome.

"We don't know . . . but every day is a bonus."

The couple said they had received enormous support from Heart Children and the local arm of the group was being re-launched this week.

Heart Children Taranaki has its first public meeting at 7pm on Friday at the Taranaki Regional Council office in Stratford.