Father Of Kaylee Wallace Expresses Frustration At Public, Hospital
Thursday April 9, 2009
The Canadian Press
The father of a baby girl at the centre of a heart donor drama in Toronto expressed his frustration with a judgmental public on Thursday.
"There's frustration now and anger actually from us that the public is judging thinking we want our daughter to die in some way, that we're trying to be media spotlight people, we're not," said Jason Wallace.
"This is about a child that needs a heart and our daughter that needs to survive, and if the fairy tale ending could be that both children would survive, that's the amazing outcome to this. I don't like the fact judgment is being cast and it's not fair."
Kaylee Wallace has a rare brain condition and her parents agreed to remove her respirator Tuesday so her heart could go to another critically ill baby.
The two-month-old girl, however, defied her prognosis by surviving, but she is having breathing troubles and her parents are now concerned that she may pass without her heart being utilized.
They informed the public Thursday that they would not put her on life support if it came down to it, and that she may in fact be in hospital for quite some time on a breathing machine. Wallace also said her condition was deteriorating.
"Now the question is after all these days and weeks and months of them telling us 'hands off' and let her pass away in that sense, now them telling us that...we should even consider putting her on (a breathing machine) for a year. Because these babies sometimes tend to get better as they mature in age."
"I think every parent in the world wants to take their child home," he added. "I am no different. I want my child to go home and survive. Difficulty is, she's avery sick little girl. Every day and every minute is different."
While awaiting his daughter's fate, Jason Wallace says he and Kaylee's mother (pictured) have been under a lot of scrutiny and it's taking a devastating toll.
Wallace also says they are having difficulty dealing with alleged comments from the Hospital for Sick Children, saying they asked them to consider how much money is being spent caring for his daughter.
citynews.ca
Parents At Centre Of Baby Heart Transplant Want To Put Ordeal Behind Them
Monday April 13, 2009
CityNews.ca Staff
The parents of a baby girl at the centre of a heart transplant that gripped the city last week want to put the ordeal behind them.
Kayleee Wallace, a two-month-old girl that suffers from Joubert syndrome, was given just days to live. Her mother and father decided that they would donate her heart to another infant in need, one-month-old Baby Lillian.
But when Kaylee (pictured above) was taken off the respirator, the little girl kept breathing - all on her own.
On Sunday, Toronto's Hospital For Sick Children revealed she was now in stable condition and no longer a potential donor.
Her father, Jason Wallace, spoke of the emotional rollercoaster he and his wife have been on in the past few days.
Earlier in the month, Wallace alleged that the hospital pressured him into making decisions that may not have been in his daughter's best interest.
They were led to believe Kaylee's prognosis was hopeless because of her rare brain condition.
Wallace now says he's content with an apology he received from the hospital and acknowledged the challenges faced by doctors.
"It may be that Joubert is such a confusing syndrome that it confused them, even the best in the world," Wallace explained.
He also said he will not be making many more public appearances.
With files from the Canadian Press.
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