Kansas City,
01
June
2020
|
11:37 AM
America/Chicago

Jahazi's Story

Five-month-old Jahaziel Velasquez is happy and smiling now, but when his mom, Damaris Bonilla woke up early Tuesday morning, it was a different story.

"Jahazi had a 104.2-degree fever," Damaris said. "I was so worried." 

Jahazi was born Dec. 4, 2019, with biliary atresia, a condition in infants that scars and blocks the bile ducts inside and outside the liver. He's already had one surgery at Children's Mercy for the problem, and may one day need a liver transplant.

"When we saw his fever, we had to pray for our baby. I was in Jahazi's room praying for him, and my husband went to the living room to pray for him, too. Then we took him to the Children's Mercy Hospital Emergency Department," Damaris said.

Ryan Fischer, MD, Amanda Stasi, LSW, and Angela Tendick, APRN, visited Jahazi in his ED room, and were worried about possible cholangitis, an infection of the bile ducts. The Liver Care Center team admitted Jahazi, and started him on antibiotics. 

“Cholangitis can be a scary infection, especially in infants with biliary atresia,” Dr. Fischer said. “We do everything we can to ensure that our patients are safe and healthy in the face of serious liver disease. We also do our best as a team to treat the whole family, making sure social work and our inpatient and outpatient nursing faculty all communicate with the parents.”

“It’s a special job when you’ve got kids as cute as Jahazi to work for!” added Angela.

"Dr. Fischer put Jahazi on an antibiotic, and he is much better now," Damaris said. Two days later, when Damaris took this video, she couldn't believe the difference.

"Jahazi is usually a very happy, smiling baby. Thanks to Dr. Fischer, the [Children’s Mercy Resident] Orange Team and the nurses who took care of him, he's smiling again.”

"When we arrived at Children's, I was super scared, but when I saw the Liver Care Team, I knew he would be fine. Everyone at Children's Mercy does their jobs with their hearts because they love it. You can just feel it. We are thankful we live in Missouri and we are so close to Children's Mercy. God bless you all and thanks for everything you did for Jahazi!"

 

Learn more about the Liver Care Center at Children's Mercy.