SAVANNA-LA-MAR, Westmoreland — For 11-month-old Nadre Fennell, the perfect Christmas gift would be life-saving surgery. He needs to have a pacemaker installed so his heart can beat faster.

“He has a congenital heart block which means that he was born with a slow heart rate and needs a pacemaker to speed up his heart. Once the pacemaker is purchased by the family it will be implanted at the Bustamante Hospital for Children at no cost to the patient,” Dr Sherard Little, a consultant cardiothoracic surgeon at the hospital told the Jamaica Observer on Wednesday when asked to confirm information provided by the child’s mother, Natasha Dennis.

Based on an estimate provided to Dennis, the much-needed pacemaker costs about $1.1 million. She cannot afford it, and is also riddled with guilt that she may be the reason for her child’s suffering.

“I have been diagnosed with lupus but have no symptoms,” she told the Observer. “When I was pregnant I had a cold for about three weeks. After the cold my belly looked strange. I took it up on myself to go and do an ultrasound on my own. When I went, they said that the baby’s heartbeat was irregular. I had to live in the hospital until I gave birth. When he was born they told me I had to get a pacemaker for him in order for him to have a normal life.”

Congenital heart defects are present at birth and can impair the organ’s function. They may cause lifelong disability or death. Since being born in January 2022, Nadre has had medical issues and he is unable to gain weight as he should.

Dennis, a self-employed single mother who lives in Fort William, Westmoreland, is finding it difficult to make ends meet on a daily basis as she struggles to care for her ill child.

“Because he is in and out of the hospital, I lose business because I have to close the shop and be there,” she explained. “But it is a sacrifice I have to make.”

Her step-sister Kimiesha Bolade has set up a GoFundMe account, Help Save Baby Nadre, to cover the cost of the pacemaker.

It can be accessed at https://gofund.me/d70cddf8. Anyone who wishes to help may also contact Natasha Dennis at (876) 707-6843.