Dad’s ‘overwhelming’ journey
At 33, Zion Tauamiti came frighteningly close to death when he suffered a cardiac arrest and flatlined twice while in intensive care.
Despite surviving the terrible ordeal, nothing could have prepared the now 38-year-old father for the moment he had to see his 13-month-old daughter, ZionPage Huata, covered in tubes and wires after undergoing a six-hour-long openheart surgery.
‘‘It is pretty overwhelming to think someone so small has to go through such a big ordeal,’’ Tauamiti said. ‘‘We were confident in the process and knew she was in good hands, but it was pretty scary for us as parents.’’
Sitting waiting for news while her baby girl went under the knife was absolutely nerve-racking, Zion-Page’s mum, Leash Huata said. ‘‘We’ve known this whole time she was eventually going to have this surgery and you try and prepare yourself as much as possible, but when the time comes, you are actually not prepared at all.’’
Zion-Page, the youngest of five children, was born with a heart defect in which her pulmonary artery was not connected correctly to allow her blood to be fully oxygenated.
She was only six days old when she had to have her first surgery – a stent placed in the heart. While the surgery was serious, it was less invasive as surgeons could place the stent through her armpit rather than having to open up her tiny chest.
Zion-Page had open-heart surgery at Starship Children’s Hospital in Auckland on Tuesday to attach the left pulmonary artery to the main artery. Doctors were able to attach the artery without using a tube, which was good news as it lowered the chance of more surgeries down the line, Tauamiti said.
On Wednesday, Zion-Page was awake and breathing on her own, so could be moved out of neonatal intensive care. ‘‘She is doing really well, but she is being monitored closely,’’ Tauamiti said.
She is expected to be discharged after seven to 10 days, depending on her recovery. Tauamiti is a prominent wellbeing worker who has been lauded for the mahi he has done in youth suicide prevention, supporting particularly Mā ori and Pacific people in Christchurch, his hometown. He resists the youth worker label, preferring to be called a ‘‘wellbeing chaplain’’, and has a talent for connecting with and empowering people.
After suffering his heart attack in 2018, an online support page attracted thousands of well-wishers from around the country, All Blacks amongst them.
While it might be a bit ironic that Tauamiti had to watch his daughter undergo heart surgery just a few years after his own heart scare, there is no genetic link between the two situations.
‘‘Mine was like a freak accident, while hers has to do with her plumbing. The two are not connected and there are no heart problems in our family either.’’
However, looking down at his daughter on her hospital bed did bring back some memories. He recalled the moment when he woke up in hospital from an induced coma, seeing all the bright lights around him and not knowing how he ended up there.
Five years later, Tauamiti is ‘‘really well and really healthy’’ and back to working full-time and playing sports. The only remnant of his cardiac arrest is the scar from the defibrillator that was placed in his chest. He trusts Zion-Page will make the same full recovery from her operation that he did.
‘‘It is pretty overwhelming to think someone so small has to go through such a big ordeal.’’ Zion Tauamiti