EIGHT-month-old Rushane Evans is scheduled to return to the island on April 18, after successfully undergoing a four-and-a-half hour heart surgery at the Geisinger Health Centre in Pennsylvania.

“The doctors are surprised he’s doing so well,” his mother, Irma Brown, told the Observer via phone from the Ronald McDonald Home yesterday morning.

Local doctors had discovered that young Rushane was afflicted with congenital heart disease, a condition that had to be rectified before he was one year old.

With the help of the Kingston and Pennsylvania Kiwanis Clubs, a medical team from Geisinger, and scores of individuals and companies who made donations in cash and kind, Rushane and his mother made the trip to the US a few weeks ago.

During the March 30 surgery, doctors discovered that there were three holes, and not one, in the baby’s heart. The holes were repaired, and a pacemaker installed on April 2.

“He didn’t have to have a blood transfusion, and he was breathing on his own,” said his happy mother. “Now he’s excellent. He’s eating like crazy, he doesn’t throw up any more and he’s gained two pounds.”

After he returns home, Rushane will require check-ups twice per year. The pacemaker, which can last up to 10 years, will be assessed in five years time.