3 surgeries in 3 months

Mateo had a bronchoscopy done when he was just two days old were they found that 80 percent of his airway was occluded by excess cartilage that needed to be removed. After that he was sent to the NICU to recover and grow. Two weeks later Mateo was diagnosed with Necrotizing Enterocolitis (NEC), which they treated with aggressive antibiotics. Unfortunately the antibiotics did not work and Mateo had to go into emergency surgery where they resected a large portion of his large intestine and gave him an ileostomy in early August.

It was shocking to see our baby after this emergency surgery, he looked so sick

On October 18th Mateo had gained weight and the doctors determined that he was ready to have his closure surgery where he would not have an ileostomy anymore and go number two like all other babies! The surgery was a success and Mateo began to recover, it was wonderful to see his belly without a bag and start to imagine what it would be like to be able to give him baths like all other babies...but 7 days after the surgery Mateo had complications and he again had to go into an emergency surgery as he had perforated (the stitches had come apart), so they had to give him back an ileostomy on October 25th, again he would have a bag to go number two. It was so devastating to know that the surgery had fail and to have him endure two surgeries in this short period of time, but once again Mateo showed us his mighty strength and resilience, as he recovered on on Halloween he was able to dressed up as a fire fighter and celebrated his first Halloween along his roommates at the NICU.

Mateo continued to have ups and downs but was able to move out of the NICU and into the 7th floor of SickKids. Here we were able to have our own room and enjoy time with family and friends. Mateo spent Christmas at the hospital; there he had many special visitors including Santa, the Leafs, the Raptors and the Canadian Forces. Mateo got spoiled with gifts, and special songs by music therapy on Christmas day.

In December Mateo also had his first Cardiac Catheterization procedure where they determined that his open-heart surgery would be sometime in February. He also underwent a Neurosurgery where they fenestrated his arachnoid cyst. He recovered well from both procedures and was able to have a wonderful Christmas and New Years celebrating with his loved ones at the hospital.

To help Mateo along his journey go to: https://www.gofundme.com/f/hakuna-mateo