Five month old Hilario and his mum Vanessa arrived in Sydney from Timor Leste on the 7th December for an operation on both eyes to try and remediate detached retinas in both eyes. Little Hilario is a hungry little babe and enjoys his bottle! Mum Vanessa spoke very little English and we were very glad to have an incredibly kind and generous representative from the Timor Leste community help us with communication.
Hilario underwent his operation at Westmead Hospital on the 12th, two days later than we expected due to surgeon availability. The operation went well and he only had two nights in hospital before moving to Ronald McDonald House where he remained until he was ready to fly home on the 20th.
What a little trooper Hilario is, hardly complaining about the nasty eye drops he had to have every 4 hours, or the sticky bandaid holding his eye guards. We hope that he will be able to see out of one eye now, and the surgeon indicated 30% in his other eye, with potential improvement as he gets older. We won’t really have a reliable measure for 6 months or so, and ROMAC doctors are waiting for the full report from the surgeon.
You may remember Maggie and Anita who came to our club lunch earlier this year. They are both so dedicated and totally committed when it comes to taking care of our children and their parents when they come to Australia, often under very stressful cicumstances.
So, on behalf of us at ROMAC, thank you for your continued support and Happy New Year.
Our next child is due to arrive in Sydney on 7th January, also from Timor Leste and needing eye surgery. I will update you in the New Year.
Mariam Fergusson ROMAC