Sharee’s bundle of joy

By Kath Gannaway
HEALESVILLE mum Sharee Baptist will be first in line on Good Friday to make her donation to the Royal Children’s Hospital appeal.
“I wouldn’t have my little boy if it hadn’t been for the doctors at the Children’s,” she said giving her bubbly six-month-old son Jairon a big hug.
Surgeons at the hospital operated on Jairon on 15 February, just days after he was diagnosed with a suite of problems described by his paediatrician as “rather complex heart disease.”
They included a hole in the heart, a condition Sharee and her brother had as children.
“As well as the hole in the heart Jairon had a rare form of ASD (Atrial Septal Defect),” Sharee explained. “We don’t do things in halves … do we?” she kids her little one. “What would be the point of that?” He answers with a huge, gurgling smile. If mum is happy with the way things are going, that’s good enough for him.
The diagnosis came as a shock. Jairon hadn’t put on as much weight as he should have, but he was a happy, contented baby up until he was just over four months old.
“He really only grizzled if he was hungry, but in the end he was hungry all the time because his heart was working overtime and using up all his energy,” Sharee explained.
When his condition worsened he was referred to a paediatrician who not only identified the hole in the heart, but told Sharee her little one had signs of early heart failure.
Sharee said she didn’t know how to feel or what to so. “The day we got the results it was straight to the Children’s so it was like we were bombarded with emotions. It was so much to take in,” she said. “It is bad enough finding out your baby has a heart disease, but when they said there were early stages of heart failure, it sounded really, very bad … and very scary.”
Sharee said the hardest part was wondering how he was going to pull through the operation.
“You are given a book to prepare you for the ICU (Intensive Care Unit) experience so it doesn’t come as quite so much of a shock when they come out of the operating theatre,” she said. “It didn’t actually scare me as much as I thought it might, as long as he had a heart beat and was breathing, I knew he was going to be OK.”
Sharee said her experience had dispelled any hesitation she had about supporting the Good Friday appeal.
“You see so many kids and families in there and the hospital doctors and staff are really great,” she said. “The surgeon was so good … Jairon wouldn’t be here now if he hadn’t had the operation.”
In the first six months that is such a steep learning curve for any first-time mother, Sharee said she also learnt something wonderful about her little boy. “You realise just how resilient they are,” she said. “Even though they are so little, and so precious, they are bloody strong little things as well.”
The Royal Children’s Hospital Good Friday Appeal has raised $197 million since it began 1931.Local fire brigades and other groups will be collecting around the Yarra Valley and donations can also be made to 9292 1166 or www.goodfridayappeal.com.au