WITH fear and hope in equal measure, the parents of four-year-old Allicia Samuels were on tenterhooks as they prepared for their daughter to do a heart surgery at Bustamante Hospital for Children’s Cardiac Centre on Wednesday.

But despite their worry the parents were overjoyed following a donation of $1.2 million they received from the Kiwanis Eastern Canada and the Caribbean (EC&C) through Chain of Hope Jamaica to cover the full cost of the surgery.

During the handover ceremony at Bustamante Hospital for Children’s Cardiac Centre on Wednesday, the parents were also promised an additional $50,000, pledged by the Kiwanis EC&C to assist with after-care, transportation, and related expenses.

Allicia’s mother, Nadine Kelsey, could not hold back her tears as doctors prepared her daughter for surgery. While expressing deep gratitude that her daughter was finally receiving the help she needs, Kelsey admitted to being extremely anxious, hoping everything would go well for her little girl.

“I’m overwhelmed, I’m torn, I don’t know really how to explain myself but I’m full of emotions right now. My daughter is about to go under heart surgery and it’s not a good feeling but I have to stay strong and I’m trying to stay strong,” Kelsey told the Jamaica Observer as she wiped a tear from her eye.

Kelsey, who resides in St Elizabeth, shared that the road leading to her daughter’s surgery has been filled with fear and uncertainty, especially after Allicia experienced her third seizure in May.

“In 2024 Allicia had a seizure. She was rushed to a doctor in St Elizabeth but she wasn’t diagnosed with anything. They said it was something she picked up in the ear. In 2025, she had another seizure in February, and we took her to a private institution where they said it was a high fever, and then in May of 2025, she had another seizure and she was rushed to Mandeville Regional [Hospital] where she did some tests and she was diagnosed with epilepsy. After being released, she got some tests run, she did an ECG (electrocardiogram) and a heart test and that’s when we found out…that she had a heart condition which is that her heart valve is narrow,” Kelsey explained.

She noted that from there, Allicia was urgently referred to Bustamante Hospital for Children, the only paediatric facility of its kind in the English-speaking Caribbean.

Since then, Kelsey and Allicia’s father, Omar Samuels, have been making frequent trips from St Elizabeth to Kingston, often under challenging circumstances. She shared that the constant travel has taken an emotional toll on her, but even more so on her daughter.

“She is a picky eater and at this moment, I don’t know what to say about how she is feeling. She is traumatised and she has never been away from us before like this. She is four years old, she is going to be five in August and she is very traumatised in the visiting hours. Before we leave she would literally want to rip the whole hospital up and it’s hard to see her crying like that,” said Kelsey.

While holding on to hope, Kelsey expressed gratitude for the financial support, noting that prior to receiving the assistance she had no idea how the family would have been able to afford the surgery.

“I am really grateful and, going forward, I am looking forward to getting her home, caring for her, getting her back into school because she was in and out of school because of her condition and I just want to be there for her, getting her well and back on track after this is complete,” said Kelsey.

Allicia’s father echoed those sentiments, recalling how quickly their world changed after her condition was discovered and the uncertainty that followed.

According to Samuels, the most daunting part of the experience was not the diagnosis itself, but trying to manage the cost of care and frequent travel from their rural home to the capital city.

“The most challenge was the expenses. You know, getting the tests done [and] moving from St Elizabeth to Kingston most of the time and moving around just trying to get everything in place so we can get a better analysis on Allicia’s condition was really difficult for us,” said Samuels.

He expressed admiration for his daughter’s fighting spirit as he pointed out that even during pain, she remained energetic and joyful throughout the journey.

“Well, she’s one of my most precious children. I have two kids, Allicia and Ashley. Ashley is the older one, she is nine years old but Allicia is more playful and more spontaneous than Ashley. Ashley is a very intelligent person, as well, but you see Allicia, trust me, she is the icing on the cake and even after we found out about her condition she played a lot same way and she always makes us laugh,” he said with a smile.

Like Kelsey, Samuels admitted to feeling nervous about the surgery.

He acknowledged his trust in the doctors and surgeons at the hospital, but said his nervousness came from his understanding that “anything is possible when dealing with the heart”.

Consultant cardiothoracic surgeon Dr Sherard Little explained the details of the surgery, pointing out that Allicia was being treated for a narrowing of the aorta — the major artery responsible for carrying blood away from the heart.

“Now what we will be doing in her operation, we’ll go through the side of her chest, the left side, and that area of narrowing of that blood vessel, we will actually cut that area of narrowing out and we will join the blood vessel back together again,” Dr Little explained.

He said that after surgery, Allicia would spend a day or two in the intensive care unit before being transferred back to the ward, then she is expected to be discharged from hospital within a week if everything goes according to plan.

Dr Little used the opportunity to commended the family for entrusting the medical team with their daughter’s care.

“A lot of parents get cold feet coming up to the surgery. We can contact them and they’ll come to clinic, and when it gets to the time that they need to come in for surgery, we call them and their numbers just ring out. But these parents are good parents, and they have brought their child in, and they have entrusted their child to our team here and we’re very grateful for that,” he said.

Governor of Kiwanis EC&C District Pamela Rodney White said the decision to support this project was driven by its life-changing potential.

“When we heard we were getting a grant for this year, the big question was, what are we going to do? What project are we going to execute? And just listening to the work, the amazing work done by Chain of Hope, I totally agreed at that time that this was going to be the project of choice because this initiative would offer a second chance at life to a child facing critical health challenges,”said White.

In the meantime, board chairman of Chain of Hope Jamaica Diane Edwards said the mission behind the organisation is not just about surgeries, but it is about transforming lives.

“Chain of Hope for me is a kind of a heart, and no pun intended, but it is a heart work,” said Edwards.

“Because what we do here is really to try to help children with heart defects to really find new life, because most of them, you see them come in, they’re short of breath, they can’t do what children are supposed to do, run up and down and have fun. And you see them after surgery, and it’s like you have switched on a light,” added Edwards.