The team that rose to the challenge of saving a life

NEONATOLOGIST Dr Ricky Dippenaar said removing the large sacrococcygeal teratoma was a highly specialised exercise that could only be performed by a multidisciplinary team of neonatal experts.

The team gathered by obstetrician Dr Sarel Brand included Dippenaar, paediatric anaesthetist Dr Lance Thompson, and paediatric surgeon Professor Daniel Sidler.

Professor Abdool Samad Shaik, a surgeon who performs ground-breaking, minimally invasive in-utero operations on foetuses, was also consulted.

“Evan’s operation involved excising a large, highly vascular multicystic and solid tumour that was deeply enmeshed in the surrounding muscles,” said Dippenaar.

Layers of tumour were cut away until the surgeon reached layers of normal tissue. “It was a highly complex procedure and no easy task. As it turned out, thanks to the expertise of the multidisciplinary medical team, Prof Sidler was able to completely remove Evan’s coccyx together with the tumour,” he said.

Dippenaar is the neonatologist who delivered Allegra Lategan, one of the country’s youngest surviving premature babies, in 2011.

“We work well as a team. Our nursing staff are the hidden gems behind all of these success stories.

“Each child is a challenge. The ones that really challenge you are the ones that really show you what your self is worth. That’s why we enjoy pushing envelopes, enjoy seeing the happy endings. We try everything for these children and parents because they are not your average child, not your average parent,” he said.