KENRICK Bogle is now a step closer to leading a normal life.

The five-year-old, who has been in the Intensive Care Unit at Bustamante Hospital for Children (BHC) in Kingston since birth has successfully completed, the corrective surgery for an abnormal connection between his oesophagus and trachea at The Hospital for Sick Children, Canada (SickKids) in Canada.

He is now back at BHC where he is undergoing a series of therapies to help with his rehabilitation.

Kenrick’s surgery was led by Dr Agostino Pierro, head of the division of general and thoracic surgery at SickKids and professor in the department of surgery at the University of Toronto. His clinical interest is in neonatal, pancreatic and minimally invasive surgery as well as neuroblastoma surgery.

Dr Marsha James — ear, nose and throat specialist at BHC — told the Jamaica Observer during a visit to the hospital that while the surgery was successful, Kenrick remains in hospital as he has chronic lung disease, has vitamin deficiency and low calcium levels, plus he will need to undergo physical, occupational and speech therapies — the latter two are not available in the public system and will require the engagement of private facilitators.

“The speech and language therapist will teach him to swallow and reduce the drooling and the need for frequent suctioning. The therapist will also teach him how to speak as the tube in his voice box had prevented him from doing so,” Dr James said. “The occupational therapist will help him with learning to do simple and complex tasks. This helps him to integrate in the home and school environment and get him on a path to be more independent.”

Dr James added: “Physiotherapy currently has him on an intensive programme to get him moving around and walking. However, he requires the use of special equipment because of his weak bones and prolonged lack of mobility.”

Of note, the Sunday Observer learnt that while at SickKids, Kenrick did a few sessions of these therapies and even learnt a bit of sign language.

He is able to sign “yes” and “no” and “more”, indicating when he is still hungry, and he can also identify some body parts.

In addition, Kenrick has started classes at the learning centre at BHC, exposing him to other children with hopes of getting him up to speed with regard to learning and interacting.

A request was also made for early childhood educators to volunteer their services to help with him.

Moreover, Dr James, who has been with Kenrick since birth, shared her joy at witnessing the step-by-step process of seeing him fully rehabilitated.

“He has been here since birth and he is basically our baby. I am happy that the surgery was successful and anticipate that the rehabilitation will bring him closer to home. It will be sad to see him go, but every child deserves to enjoy their childhood and Kenrick has a lot to catch up on. The entire staff is committed to getting home in a timely manner,” Dr James said.

Kenrick was born on October 26, 2012 at the Victoria Jubilee Hospital in Kingston. At the time, all routine tests during his mother’s pregnancy had indicated that he would have been a normal, healthy baby.

However, after he was delivered, doctors discovered that he was born with tracheo-esophageal fistula, which meant that there is an abnormal connection between his oesophagus and his trachea in which food in the oesophagus may pass into the trachea and on to the lungs or, alternatively, air in the trachea may cross into the oesophagus.

The fistula also led to tracheomalacia — that is, his trachea was floppy instead of rigid. His condition made him unable to walk, speak or breathe on his own, because he had a tube in his trachea and was attached to a machine to help him breathe.

The good news is that today Kenrick is out of the ICU and admitted to ward two where his rehabilitation process will continue. His leaving ICU now makes space available to another child for the critical care needed in an ICU setting.

His father, Peter Bogle, who many times felt like giving up but stuck through it, is a happy man and made it public that he is writing a book which will outline the journey from Kenrick’s birth to his rehabilitation.