After a three-month struggle to recover from a life-threatening condition believed to be caused by COVID-19, 3-year-old Imani Hanson is back home with a simple message for the people of Cayman: “Thank you.”
The toddler, who had to be flown off the island for life-saving surgery in Jamaica, managed a few words with the Compass on her return to the islands.
“I was being brave in the hospital and I feel better now,” she said.
“I flew on an aeroplane and came back to Cayman.”
She said “thank you” to everyone who had helped her.
The youngster was taken to the Cayman Islands Hospital on 21 Feb. suffering coughing fits and shortness of breath. She was found to have a collapsed lung and was put on a ventilator.
Doctors said the issues were likely complications from a recent bout of COVID-19. A charity campaign spearheaded by Acts of Random Kindness helped raise more than $20,000 for a medical evacuation to the Bustamante Children’s Hospital in Kingston where she received two surgeries in March.
It was another five weeks, however, before she was declared fully fit and free to return to Cayman.
Her mother Malonia said, “We want to thank everyone who helped to save her life and especially ARK.”
Prior to this, she says she was not particularly concerned about COVID-19. She had been vaccinated and she had read it was not a severe threat to children.
“I would not have been concerned when she had a cold or something like that, but after taking her to the HSA and them saying it was related to COVID, it raised a lot of red flags,” she said.
“It is a lot more dangerous than I actually thought.”
At one stage, she said, she feared she could lose her daughter.
Imani was on a ventilator for nearly a month and complications with the family’s insurance meant that, until ARK stepped in, there was no certainty she could be transported to Jamaica for surgery.
But now thanks to the help of doctors both in Cayman and Jamaica and the kindness of the community, Malonia says her daughter is back to full health.
“We are so happy and so grateful to everyone,” she said.
The family arrived back in Cayman on 26 April.
Related Videos
