Support for Caylum has astonished his parents

Baby Caylum

Baby Caylum

Published Oct 15, 2016

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Johannesburg - The last donation - for R510 - came in on Friday from Jeanine, Phillip and Eli. It was accompanied by a message that read: “Thinking of you beautiful baby Caylum. We know you will get to Boston.”

Below this one was a long list of smaller donations - R20, R50 and R110 - to help little Caylum Willemse get the costly life-saving operation he needs at a hospital in Boston in the US.

Though Wayne Willemse and his wife Samantha have raised a staggering R7.3 million in the past three months - mainly from Gauteng residents for their #getcaylumtoboston campaign - it's small amounts like these that touch the couple.

“I went yesterday to pull the list of pledges from the bank. It's amazing that most of our donations have come from individuals in South Africa. And in Gauteng, it's amazing to see how many R100 and R200 gifts have come through, how many individuals have stood together for Caylum.”

Their nine-month-old son is diagnosed with traracheooesophageal fistula and oesophaegeal atresia, tracheomalacia and bronchomalacia. This means the oesophagus develops in two parts and food cannot reach the stomach - as well as tracheobronchomalacia, a rare condition where the windpipe cartilage is soft. Fluid can leak into his lungs.

Caylum survived his first corrective, life-saving surgery when he was just two days old, but has stopped breathing more than 15 times and has suffered several episodes of cardiac arrest. He has spent most of his life at Netcare’s Clinton Hospital in Alberton, south of Joburg.

Caylum’s condition is rare - his trachea has collapsed from the back. But there are no doctors in South Africa who can perform the complex, life-saving operation he needs.

US surgeon Russell Jennings, from the Boston Children’s Hospital, who has completed a posterior tracheopexy with success, has agreed to perform the surgery. The couple have to pay nearly R5 million upfront for the operation itself.

Saturday Star

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