'Bustamante Baby' makes it through the worst

Jody-Anne Lawrence, Staff Reporter

Malachi Barnaby was only four months old when he had heart failure, but now at three years old, his mother Margaret Linton could not find a more charming and vibrant child.

The last of three children, for Linton, Malachi was born on September 17, 2010, diagnosed with Down's syndrome.

"I gave birth at the University Hospital of the West Indies. They informed me that he had Down's syndrome, and all the complications that may be associated with it. I was nervous at first, but I had to get over it," Linton told Outlook.

For the first four months, the only problem Malachi experienced was a cold, and it was for that reason that she took him to the Bustamante Hospital for Children.

"He was coughing and all I thought was that he just had a cold. They had put him under observation and then they said to me 'Mommy, we have to take him to the intensive care unit'. I was worried because, when you hear ICU, the first thing you think is that there are people that never come out of there alive. Then they told me he had heart failure and he had to undergo surgery," Linton explained.

first surgery

His first surgery lasted for approximately four hours. A nerve-racking situation, Linton said it was made more comforting by the hospitality of the nurses who informed her of the progress.

"I think when God made angels, He made those nurses," Linton reminisced. "They were so kind and they were so good to us. They kept checking on me and talking to me. I think if it is was not for that, everything could have been overwhelming. But I was quite calm because they were always informing me about what was going on."

After the operation, Malachi was OK. But only momentarily. After that ordeal, he developed pneumonia and had to be put on a ventilator. This ventilator was bought through the donation from the Shaggy and Friends concert. He was on the machine for six months.

He was released two weeks before his first birthday, to gain some weight before his next cardiovascular surgery. Though he was not completely out of the woods, this did not deter the family from celebrating his first birthday.

"He was not able to sit up as yet, but we placed him on a pillow, bought a cake and had a birthday party. We had to celebrate him," Linton told Outlook.

In June 2012, Malachi underwent his second surgery. This time, they were cutting one major artery so that he would have the two that he needed, as well as to patch the hole in his heart. The surgery was twice as long as the first one, but Linton was not nervous at all.

"I was prepared. The doctor told me everything that was going to happen and I even went to work. By this time, it felt like I was leaving him with family. I knew he was in good hands, and I was not the least bit worried,' she said. And she had all right not to be. Malachi is now three years old, doing well, and has had no major complications since.

"Malachi, oh Malachi! He is a handful. A more active child you can't find," Linton told Outlook, as her eyes twinkled with joy.

She notes that when they do visit the hospital for his check-ups, the nurses fawn over him. "They call him Bustamante Baby. He just lights up a room," says Linton.

Through his entire ordeal, she is just grateful to God and leaves everything in His hand.

"He (God) doesn't make any mistakes and there are children who have gone through less than what he did and not make it. I have to be thankful," Linton said with a smile. "When I look at him now, all I feel is love. When I think where we've come from, all I can say is 'who knew we would have made it this far?'."