Fighting spirit pulls Chenic out of danger
BORN with a big hole in her heart and an even bigger fighting spirit, baby Chenic Nel has made it through what her doctors call the “danger zone”.
“Chenic was born at Netcare Greenacres Hospital on October 30 at 36 weeks and just over 2kg,” her mom, Cherise Nel, said yesterday.
“When she was born she could not breathe by herself and was blue.
“I thought she might have a little trouble breathing because she was a bit premature. “But I never expected this.” She said while the news had been devastating, she had felt very loved and supported by the doctors and nurses who rallied around her family.
“They told us everything we wanted to know and helped us to understand,” she said.
“I didn’t even have to Google anything.”
Apart from a major hole in the middle of her heart, Chenic also has a number of other heart problems and will need several surgeries to help her heart and lungs work better.
Nel said she was in awe of her daughter’s fighting spirit. “She already has a lot of attitude,” she said, laughing.
“My husband, Nico, burst into tears when he first saw her.
“I told him if God wanted to come and fetch our child, He would have done so by now. I knew she was going to make it,” she said.
“Doctors told us that Chenic would be in the danger zone for two weeks.”
For those two weeks, the little girl fought hard for her health and tomorrow she goes home for the first time.
“I think through all of this the hardest thing for me was to leave her in the hospital and go home without her.”
Nel was under the care of gynaecologist Pieter Marais.
“Dr Marais and everybody who works for him were so supportive,” Nel said.
“They all came to tell me that they were praying for us.”
Nel said some of the most touching moments of the past two weeks had been the support she received from moms whose children also had heart defects.
Soon Chenic progressed from a little baby covered in pipes, drips and monitors and breathing through a machine to a baby ready to go home.
“We gave her her first proper bath yesterday,” Nel said.
She is scheduled for a checkup and the first of a number of surgeries early next year.
Paediatric cardiologist Dr Lungile Pepeta said Chenic had a congenital defect, but was doing very well.
“As long as she stays nice and pink, we will let her go home and grow a little,” he said.