Home sweet home for brave Jaykob

LITTLE Jaykob Cuffe had a difficult start to life. Even before he was born, sophisticated scans picked up shadows on his chest while he was in the womb. His mother Suli Cuffe, from Trumpington, was terrified her son would not survive the pregnancy. "It was touch and go," she told the News. "I was scared he would die inside me." After 20 weeks in the womb, he was diagnosed with a very rare abnormality called Congenital Cystic Adenomatous Malformation (CCAM). Miraculously Jaykob was born in January 2004 but the life-threatening cysts inside Jaykob's chest left him with severe breathing difficulties which meant he sometimes stopped breathing. He also suffered constant infections because of the cysts, which filled half of his left lung. "After he was born he gradually got more and more ill," said Suli. "At four weeks he was getting attacks of going all floppy. It was very hard time. I was very scared." Paediatrician Richard Iles said: "He was on a knife-edge. Any of these infections could have caused him to have to go to intensive care." Staff at Addenbrooke's decided to operate on Jaykob's left lung using pioneering keyhole surgery a procedure which had never before been carried out in England or Wales. The normal surgical procedure to treat the condition would have meant a big cut in his chest and the removal of the affected half of the lung, meaning a potentially long stay in intensive care. But in a seven-hour operation using keyhole surgery, the life-threatening cysts were removed through a small incision and five days later he was back at home. "It's only been a couple of weeks since the operation, but already he's started doing so many things he couldn't do before," said Suli. "He's a very brave little boy. "He's gone through so much he's obviously meant to be here with us." And now his condition can be monitored at home by his 25-year-old single mother, thanks to a £1,000 donation from Press Relief. The money, raised by our army of caring readers, has paid for a sophisticated, compact, oxygen saturation monitor, which can be worn like a wristwatch, even by a young child. It will enable Jaykob's pulse rate and breathing to be closely monitored while his is asleep at home, and all the data recorded can be downloaded on to a computer, which medical staff can then analyse. "The money has really helped," said Suli. "The equipment will mean we will be able to keep a check on his oxygen levels to make sure his condition is not being compromised in any way." Adil Aslam, paediatric surgeon at Addenbrooke's, said: "His remaining left lung and his right lung have normal function, and he is expected to make a full recovery and lead a normal life. "He just has three little scars on his chest. The reason for doing it now is that it will give maximum benefit for regrowth. The beauty of the monitor is that it is used at home, but the information it provides can be seen at the hospital. "The patient therefore does not need to visit the hospital to be seen as an outpatient as often as would otherwise be the case." If you want to donate money so that Addenbrooke's can buy more chest monitors, send your donations to Press Relief - indicating that you want the money to be spent.

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