Family eager to bring home Baby Jax

Amid the holiday's embrace of warmth and unity, the Pinto family navigates a trying period with the illness of their son, three-month-old Jax, casting a shadow over the festive cheer.

Jax has been a patient at the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI) for more than a month after been afflicted with hypoxia caused by oxygen depravation.

The tiny tot's mother, Sonishea Mckenzie-Pinto, said she was alerted to his breathing challenges by a caregiver, who noticed he wasn't moving as strongly as he normally does.

"She called me frantically and told me to come and carry him to the doctor," Mckenzie-Pinto recalled.

She told THE STAR that she rushed home from work and discovered that her newborn's lips were blue and his hands and feet were white, and he was vomiting.

"I grabbed him from her and ran over to my neighbours house and asked him to carry me to the doctor. When I got there they immediately referred me to the hospital," she said.

The mother said that thanks to the team of doctors and nurses at the Spanish Town Hospital, Jax was stabilised and is now "looking like himself".

"However, due to the level of hypoxia he suffered, there are some things he's not doing. One of them is breathing on his own completely," the saddened mother stated.

Mckenzie-Pinto said that Baby Jax has endured a rough journey since his entry into the world. He was unresponsive at birth and was struggling to breathe. He, however, overcame those initial hurdles.

Yet, amid the myriad challenges post-Jax's birth, Mckenzie-Pinto confessed that the family now operates on autopilot, veiled in a surreal blend of disbelief, anger, confusion, and profound sadness. Even moments of joy or laughter evoke an unsettling twinge of guilt. His mother is firm in her resolve to bring Jax home and has been relentlessly seeking treatment options.

"While praying and singing to my son in the hospital, I discovered a potential treatment for hypoxia called 'hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT)'. It is a well-established treatment for decompression sickness, a potential risk of diving. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is also performed on children."

Mckenzie-Pinto said she has asked about the possibility of her son undergoing HBOT but has been told it has never been done on anyone younger than one year old in Jamaica.

"The doctors said they would look into the treatment and see what can be done, but they said they wouldn't get their hopes up, and are still a bit apprehensive about any normality being returned to my son, but God a God," Mckenzie-Pinto said.

The determined mother is on a quest to raise money for his treatment, which could cost about $145,000 per session.

"With everything my son has been through in his little life and overcame, I'm extremely certain that he is to be here and is to be great! I'm asking for any assistance in getting my son the care he needs to come home to us. His brother and sister are waiting on him to come home," she said.

Sonishea Mckenzie-Pinto may be contacted via telephone at (876) 790-8867.