Jaden Knight

Jaden was born on March 6 1998 at Rotorua Hospital. There was a slight murmur noticed by the doctors present at the birth. On Monday March 9 the murmur was noticeably worse and the decision was made to send him to Starship Hospital in Auckland for further diagnosis.

He was diagnosed as having Truncus Arteriosis (no pulmonary artery) with a Ventricular Septal Defect, (hole in the heart). The paediatric specialists and surgeons advised of the need to operate as quickly as possible.

Jaden underwent his first operation at eleven days old at Green Lane Hospital. The operation went well and his recovery was soon underway.

There were problems with feeding and weight gain, which with help of the Rotorua hospital paediatric doctors and neo-natal nursing staff, this was slowly brought under control.

At three months of age he developed an aneurysm of the repair, which was kept under surveillance by both Rotorua and Green Lane Hospitals.

At five months old it was felt he was strong enough and had gained enough weight to have a repair operation on the aneurysm, so it was back to Green Lane.

The second operation was on August 17 (five months to the day since the first op) which was also successful. There will be more operations as he gets older as the repair will not grow with him. It will have to be made larger as he grows older.

We offer our heart felt thanks to all doctors and nursing staff at Rotorua, Starship and Green Lane Hospitals, also the crew of the Westpac Trust Helicopter for giving Jaden a chance at life.