Operation a success; Neville recuperates in Tampa

There is some great news to report tonight regarding the progress of ten year old Neville Bermudez. Bermudez underwent emergency heart surgery on October twelfth at St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital in Tampa, Florida. According to his doctors, the child stopped responding to medication, causing his lungs to cease functioning during the procedure, putting a tremendous amount of pressure on his heart. But as this picture, taken just one hour after the operation shows, Neville survived and his surgeons, Dr. Paul Chai and Dr. James Quintesenza, are confident he will make a rapid recovery. Bermudez was released from the hospital on Monday and is now staying at the Ronald McDonald House, a special residence facility for recovering children and their families. While Neville is still very underweight, we are told that his love of pepperoni pizza is helping him put on the pounds. Following more appointments with his doctors next week, Neville and his mom are scheduled to return to Belize on October twenty-seventh. On September twenty-first, Neville collapsed with a high fever in his home village of Camalote in the Cayo District. He was later diagnosed as having a tear in the mitral valve of his heart. Through the efforts of the Rotary Gift of Life programme and overwhelming support from the community, on October tenth, Neville was rushed by paediatric air ambulance to Tampa to get the help he so desperately needed. Again, on behalf of the Bermudez family, a heartfelt thanks to everyone who contributed to this cause.