A GIFT OF LIFE: Talya, 5, home for Christmas after heart surgery

IN GOOD HANDS: Talya Walker, 5, is held by her father David Walker yesterday at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex. Next to them is her mother Trycia Mendoza-Walker.  Behind them, Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh is flanked by Dr. Gyandeo Maharajh  and a senior nurse.  PHOTO COURTESY MINISTRY OF HEALTH
IN GOOD HANDS: Talya Walker, 5, is held by her father David Walker yesterday at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex. Next to them is her mother Trycia Mendoza-Walker. Behind them, Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh is flanked by Dr. Gyandeo Maharajh and a senior nurse. PHOTO COURTESY MINISTRY OF HEALTH

It is indeed going to be the gift of life this Christmas for Trycia Mendoza-Walker and her husband David Walker as they take their daughter home from the hospital today (Saturday).

Five-year-old Talya had open-heart surgery on Wednesday at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex (EWMSC), Mt Hope.

Talya was one of 31 children who had cardiac procedures at the EWMSC paediatric unit in the last five months as the North Central Regional Health Authority (NCRHA) re-engaged the private/public partnership with Caribbean Heart Care (CHC) in August.

In just three surgical runs over the past five months, the NCRHA surgical team with CHC completed 33 per cent more surgeries than the annual average for the past ten years. This was achieved with an overall mortality rate of less than 1.5 per cent, a rate that was better than the international figure of three to five per cent.

At a news conference yesterday at the EWMSC, Amphitheatre C, Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh said this virtually eliminated its backlog of children needing urgent heart surgery.

The Walkers had taken Talya to the EWMSC emergency room in August earlier this year for what they thought was a bad cold. However, doctors found much more was happening with the child.

Upon examination, it was discovered that she had an irregular heart beat. She was kept for further tests and it was found she had a heart murmur.

A murmur is the sound of blood flowing. It may be passing through a problem heart valve, or it may a condition that may make the heart beat faster and forcing it to handle more blood quicker than normal.

Dr Gyaandeo S Maharajh, Chief, Division of Cardiovascular Surgery at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, said this meant that with the pulmonary veins, the veins from the right side of the lung were mixing with the wrong side of the heart.

He said with the procedure there would be no need for a repeat surgery. Talya was approved for surgery that same month.

Mendoza-Walker said Talya never presented with any symptoms suggesting she had a heart problem.

“She is a very energetic child, always active, always on the go,” she said as Talya, wrapped in a blanket, lay cuddled in her father’s arms.

Talya described taking her child home as bitter-sweet.

“I am ecstatic, but I am also sad because I have to watch my child in so much pain. At least it is over,” she said.

If the Walkers had the surgery done privately it would have cost US$40,000. There were also 22 hypospadias surgeries done at the hospital this year.

Hypospadias is an abnormality of the penis that affected boys with about 20 new cases per year in Trinidad and Tobago. The treatment for this condition was important to allow for the normal passage of urine and the development of their genitals.

The US-based charitable group IVU Med (International Visiting Urologist) offered their assistance to the only paediatric urologist available locally, NCRHA’s Dr Barbara Rampersad.

The group has been visiting TT for the past three years performing surgeries and conducting training workshops for surgeons locally and regionally. During these years 60 hypospadias procedures were conducted and led by Rampersad.

The media met two of the boys yesterday who underwent the surgery and were doing fine. They were ten-year-old Johann Persad and nine-year-old Jonathon Breton. Rampersad said the surgery would cost US$6,000 if done privately.

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