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A Jewish mother is racing to raise £400,000 to take her three-year-old son to the US for specialist heart surgery after being told there were no further surgical options available to him in the UK.
Hannah Silver has launched an urgent fundraising appeal for her son Sebastian, who was born with a rare combination of serious heart conditions and has spent much of his young life undergoing hospital treatment.
The appeal has already raised more than £38,000 from over 750 donors towards the cost of treatment at Boston Children’s Hospital, as well as travel and accommodation.
Sebastian’s heart problems were first detected during Hannah’s 20-week pregnancy scan. He was born two months prematurely by emergency Caesarean section and transferred to Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH).
Doctors found he had several conditions, including congenitally corrected transposition of the great arteries (ccTGA), criss-cross heart, an underdeveloped right ventricle, ventricular and atrial septal defects and Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome.
At just two weeks old, Sebastian underwent his first procedure, with a pulmonary band fitted to help stabilise his condition.
But his most serious crisis came at 18 months, when surgeons attempted to repair his ventricular septal defect. Five hours after the operation, Sebastian suffered a 90-minute cardiac arrest and was placed on life support.
When his heart was unable to cope with the repair, surgeons carried out another high-risk operation to reverse it. He survived, but remained in hospital for four months.
Hannah, who is also raising Sebastian’s older sister Sidney, described being forced to divide her time between her critically ill son and her daughter at home.
“As a single mum, I was torn in two – trying to be at Sebastian’s bedside in ICU while trying to comfort a terrified, heartbroken daughter at home who just wanted her mum and baby brother back,” she wrote on the fundraising page.
Hannah says she was subsequently told by GOSH that all surgical options available in the UK had been exhausted and that Sebastian should return home and begin palliative care.
Determined to find another possibility, she approached specialists overseas and says doctors at Boston Children’s Hospital believe Sebastian could undergo a specialised double switch biventricular repair.
The proposed treatment is expected to cost at least £400,000 once surgery, tests, intensive care, medical travel and accommodation during his recovery are included.
“I can’t do this alone, but with your help I will be able to give him a fighting chance to grow up to be the amazing man I know he can be,” Hannah said.
She added: “Every single donation, no matter how small, brings Sebastian one step closer to Boston.”
Sebastian’s GoFundMe appeal, “Help Save Sebastian’s Life”, can be found here.
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