Simple test to save lives
Bowie Macmillan is one of 12 babies born each week with a heart condition in New Zealand.
Bowie was born with a significant heart defect that went undetected at birth and had to undergo open-heart surgery.
‘‘It was four weeks before doctors at Starship Hospital discovered Bowie was a TET (Acyanotic Tetralogy of Fallot) baby,’’ Bowies mum, Sarah Macmillan, says.
Bowie had a 6 millimetre hole in his heart.
August is Heart Kids Awareness Month and this year sees dairy company Yashili team up as a sponsor.
The charity wants to extend family support programmes to ensure national coverage and chief executive Rob Lutter says this expansion will ‘‘immeasurably improve families’ lives’’.
They are advocating for the introduction of a life-saving intervention diagnostic tool that will address the critical survival factor of early intervention.
Macmillan says if this test had been available it would have saved her family a lot of heartache, stress and tears.
Bowie is now 15 months old and is doing great after undergoing open heart surgery.
‘‘[He’s] such a cool little dude, crawling everywhere, you would look at him and not even know he is a heart baby.’’
Yashili donates $1 for every can of baby formula sold in New Zealand supermarkets.
Visit heartkids.org.nz more information. for