Six months after his birth, the parents of tiny premature baby TJ McCoy-Snell are still waiting to bring him home to the Cayman Islands.
In between heartening leaps of improved health the baby, who was born four months prematurely in May, continues to suffer some setbacks and is not yet strong enough to journey back to Cayman.
Baby TJ with his parent Maurice and Nickola in August on the first day they were allowed to hold him. |
The family awaits continuing check-ups with specialists before the baby can be brought to Cayman and do not think it is likely TJ can come home before the new year.
‘Back in late September TJ was making very good progress and the staff at Mount Sinai hospital in Miami were telling us that he was about ready to leave his long-time home in the NICU (Newborn Intensive Care Unit),’ said father Maurice Snell.
Mr. Snell and his wife, Native Sons artist Nickola McCoy-Snell, prepared to take baby TJ – short for Terrence James – to their temporary home in Miami after spending every day at the hospital for four months.
‘Whilst we were excited about our son’s impending discharge, it was also a sobering thought that he would soon no longer be surrounded by medical professionals,’ Mr. Snell said.
They bought a car seat and started shopping for all the things babies need. They also completed a CPR course at the hospital, hoping they would never need to put it into practice.
‘Even though he had been breathing on his own and taking feedings by mouth for a couple of weeks, he was experiencing more bradycardia episodes during and after feeding. These episodes involve a dangerous drop in heart rate and often respiration too,’ said his father.
A couple of days prior to his expected discharge, mother Nikki called the hospital to be told that TJ had been put back on the ventilator because he had contracted a urinary tract infection, which had spread to his kidneys and lungs.
‘Whilst it was a big backward step, we also felt some relief that it had happened while he was still in the NICU. The following couple of weeks were tense while we waited for the outcome of more tests and for the antibiotics to do their job,’ said Mr. Snell.
A month later, they finally took their son home to where they were staying in Miami.
‘We spent two nights in a hospital room as a kind of dry run before the hospital would release him into our care. As you can imagine, those two nights were sleepless ones for mom and dad.
‘Taking a baby home is a joyous occasion as any parent will tell you but for us it was tinged with more than the usual apprehension.
‘We had no idea what to expect on this next stage of the journey aside from the fact that our little miracle was now our largest responsibility in life. After all the care, prayers, and, let’s be honest, money, that had gone into bringing our child this far, we wondered just how we would live up to the task,’ Mr. Snell said.
A terrifying episode just days after TJ left hospital shook the family to the core.
‘After five days in our care, on Nikki’s birthday and whilst I was out collecting her gifts and some groceries, TJ had a major bradycardia episode. Mom was alone and despite almost overwhelming panic and fear, performed CPR on her tiny baby, just as she had been taught and without freezing up or allowing that panic to prevent her from doing what needed to be done.
‘I can’t imagine how frightening it was and by the time I returned home, TJ was looking fine, unlike his poor mom who was distraught, exhausted but relieved. Later that night we noticed that TJ’s breathing was laboured and we decided to take him to emergency the next morning.’
TJ ended up staying at Joe DiMaggio’s Children’s Hospital under 24-hour observation for a week while the hospital ran more tests and adjusted various medications.
‘He has been growing so fast that the doses had probably become ineffective. Finally, again, he was discharged into our care and to date, has been doing very well,’ Mr. Snell said.
Little TJ, who was just one pound, four ounces when he was born in May, now weighs eight pounds and 12 ounces and is 19 inches long.
His father describes him as a ‘bundle of trouble… already wooing the people who meet him with his cheeky grin and cuteness’.
The family realises he has a long way to go before being fully healthy and have been told they must stay in the US until all his follow ups with various specialists are complete.
On a positive note, a cardiologist has pronounced the baby’s heart to be normal and healthy, and he has also been signed off by an eye specialist who said his sight was developing normally.
The parents are still awaiting decisions from a kidney specialist, physical therapists, respiratory specialist and his paediatrician. The child will also have to undergo surgery at some point to repair a hernia.
Mrs. McCoy-Snell recently sent out an update on TJ’s condition titled ‘I’m a real boy!’, along with photographs showing her little son asleep in his bassinet and gurgling at mobiles hanging over his cot.
She said: ‘We are praying that we have no more setbacks, and we will get the green light from the doctors that we can bring him home.
‘He still has his monitors and oxygen tanks and a bunch of other stuff; the good news is the doctors have started weaning him off his meds and the machines.’
Mr. Snell said: ‘At no time throughout the past six months have we been made to feel anything but loved by those around us. TJ has brought joy to his grandparents, to his aunts and uncles, to his cousins and of course to his mom and dad, but more than this, he has brought out the very best in countless numbers of others who have showered him with their overwhelming show of support and care.’
In a note of thanks to all those who had helped the family since TJ’s birth, Mr. Snell said: ‘All we can say is God bless you all and thank you again from the bottom of our hearts. We only hope that’s enough. Every day I am reminded of the countless number of people who deal with similar or far worse issues in their own lives – the fact that so many have taken the time to spare us a thought or prayer shall always be an amazing and abiding memory for me,’ he said.
Related Videos
