Baby Sergio bound for Boston and life-changing op

Baby Sergio O’Connor, a twin with an award-winning smile, will travel to Boston with his parents on Monday for a life-changing operation.

Sergio, from Donnycarney, Dublin, has a rare condition that prevents him from eating, drinking or swallowing. It also prevents him from living at home with his loving family.

The little boy has been confined to Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital in Crumlin, Dublin, since he was born just over a year ago.

He is constantly wired up to tubes and other life-saving apparatus and has only been home three times since birth, for just a couple of hours at a time.

Sergio was born with tracheo-oesophageal fistula with long gap atresia, a condition that left him with an incomplete oesophagus.

Doctors had hoped the gap between the two ends of his oesophagus would get smaller but, unfortunately, this did not happen.

The procedure to repair Sergio’s oesophagus will involve him being induced into a coma for three to six weeks.

The complex series of operations will be performed by Dr John Foker at the Oesophageal Advanced Centre in Boston, who described Sergio as an ideal candidate.

Sergio’s father Donal, who works in rehabilitation at the Central Remedial Clinic, in Clontarf, Dublin, will stay in Boston for up to six months until Sergio is well enough to go home.

Once Sergio is on the mend, his Spanish-born mother, Rosa, will return to Dublin to look after his twin brother, Tadhg.

The HSE has sanctioned the treatment, which is not available in Ireland, but has not met the full cost of the procedure.

Sergio’s parents must raise €100,000 as part of the agreement between the HSE, Our Lady’s Hospital, Boston Children’s Hospital and the VHI.

As well as the contribution towards Sergio’s medical costs, Donal and Rosa will have to cover the cost of their living expenses while in Boston.

Donal explained that Sergio’s condition was spotted before he was born during a routine scan. “He did not have a stomach bubble so we knew there would be complications at birth,” he said.

“Unfortunately, Sergio has a number of other medical complications but the one preventing him going home is the oesophageal problem.”

Donal and his wider family are well-known traditional Irish musicians and the traditional musical community across the country has been helping the Sergio Appeal with concerts and other fundraising events.

“I have a tin whistle in his cot and he is lifting that up and pretending to play it. He is a very smiley baby and is cognitively all there. He also loves his brother coming in to see him and jumps around with excitement,” the proud father said.

Donal said the CRC has agreed that Sergio can attend the rehabilitation centre for both occupational and physiotherapy when he is better.

* wwww.helpsergio.com