Life-saving surgery sparks fundraising efforts
by Doris Fleck

When Christina Taylor and her husband John found out their newborn son had a rare heart condition requiring immediate surgery, they were devastated. “No one should be faced with death the day after being born,” Christina said.

- Photo by Nicole Schroeder

<--Christina Taylor plays with her son, William.  After his successful surgery, Christina is raising money to provide major surgery for underprivileged children through Compassion Canada.   Christina and John met at the Youth With A Mission (YWAM) base in Turner Valley. There they were married and joined the staff of the School of Biblical Studies (SBS). They decided to move back to John’s home country of Australia to get dual citizenship and became involved in leading a SBS in Canberra. It was there that Christina gave birth to William on August 28, 2009. Her first comment after seeing him was, “He’s perfect!” But it wasn’t long before hospital staff noticed William’s breathing was rapid and found out he was not getting enough oxygen. All attempts to bring his oxygen levels up failed.

They were quickly moved to a larger hospital so William could have an ultrasound. A doctor told them there was a complication with his heart. They had called for a helicopter to evacuate them to Sydney where a pediatric cardiologist would be able to diagnose the problem.

It was after midnight on a stormy night and the helicopter was arriving soon. Only one parent was allowed to accompany William. Christina said the whole ordeal was so traumatic she wanted to drive to the hospital with her husband, but decided she should go with her son.

“I felt that’s the moment I became a mother,” she recalled. “We didn’t know how long he was going to live at that point. The helicopter ride was pretty crazy. All the alarms kept going off on Will’s incubator and I never knew why.”

Once safely in Sydney, William was diagnosed with an extremely rare heart condition — the veins were entering the wrong side of the heart causing oxygenated and unoxygenated blood to mix. If he didn’t have surgery to correct this problem, he probably wouldn’t live to see his first birthday.

William underwent surgery 10 days later and did extremely well.

While there, the Taylors met other families whose babies had a much tougher time than William. That was the beginning of Christina’s desire to help others going through similar circumstances.

In the fall of 2010, Christina said she got into a slump — worried how the trauma of his first few weeks would affect William long-term. Then she saw a World Vision gift catalogue that offered heart surgery for a child who couldn’t afford it. The cost was $5,000.

“That was a bit of a reality check for me,” Christina said. “It’s hard to see your child go through surgery, but so much harder to see them need it and not be able to get it.”

The Taylors were sponsoring a child through Compassion Canada and when they moved back to Turner Valley in November 2010, Christina found out this organization was offering a similar gift — major surgery for $5,000. Since she wanted to donate some money and raise the rest, Compassion set up a web page on their site for her.

She and her husband John have already given $800 towards this cause and are asking others to join their efforts by giving $15 or more which is tax-receiptable. She will carry on this project through the next year and hopes a number of children will receive life-improving surgery.

If you would like to make a donation, go to www.compassion.ca/achancetobewell  or contact Christina at christinajht@gmail.com.