Michael Labuschagne, 10 months, is in need of life-saving heart surgery and his family is doing everything in their power to get to Boston to save him.
Michael was only 14 weeks old when he went into cardiac arrest. He was put into an induced coma following the incident for five days.
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10-Month-Old Michael Labuschagne Awoke from Coma, Smiled at His Dad
“Words cannot begin to describe the pain we felt in that moment,” Michael’s mother, Emma, wrote on the family’s GoFundMe page, which has raised money to pay for Michael’s surgery. “We watched our baby breathless, gasping for air while his heart stopped and paramedics worked to save his life. In that moment, I did not think Michael would make it through.”
When Michael awoke from the coma, he was smiling at his dad, Stuart.
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Doctors in the UK, where Michael and his family live, diagnosed him with a rare cardiac fibroma that is attached to the septum in the left chamber of his heart, Emma shared on the GoFundMe page. Though the tumor is benign, it’s location can lead to arrhythmias and ventricular tachycardia, according to the Boston Children’s Museum.
Michael currently wears a pacemaker and defibrillator to help offset symptoms. The family is looking ahead at getting the life-saving surgery at Boston Children’s Hospital, which Emma noted has the “best cardiac surgeons in the world and they have done this operation several times.”
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The surgery costs an estimated $147,00 dollars. To date, the family’s GoFundMe has raised nearly $250,000 for the family’s medical expenses.
“The dream is to get him to Boston as soon as we can,” Emma wrote on the GoFundMe page. “Every day we worry if it will be our last with Michael.”
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