OUR LITTLE MIRACLE

The giant tumour in her mouth and throat would rob her of her first breaths in this world. But thanks to the precision work of medical experts and her parents’ love little Ivoreè is thriving

- RICHARD VAN RENSBURG

THE baby is snuggled cosily in her mother’s arms after a feed, a hearty yawn a telltale sign that she’ll soon drift off. It’s typical behaviour for a two-month-old but for tiny Ivoreè’s parents, everything she does is a sign she’s recovering from her traumatic birth and is on her way to robust health.

And Kiara Jackson and Charles Erasmus have the team at Cape Town’s Tygerberg Hospital to thank for the fact their little girl is here at all.

Kiara (21) nearly lost her baby in a threatened early miscarriage and then, after scans revealed a big tumour in her baby’s mouth and throat, she was given the option of termination.

“My whole pregnancy was hard,” Kiara says. “The thought of a miscarriage was terrifying, and finding out later on that she had a tumour was heartbreaking.”

But doctors were sympathetic, she adds. “They gave me the option of continuing with the pregnancy under close observation but they warned me that even if the pregnancy continued to term, she might not survive the birth.

“I didn’t give up on her though and just look at her now. She’s been through so much but she’s doing so well.”

Charles (33), a tattoo artist, smiles down at his daughter. “It’s been quite the journey so far,” he says. “She’s really a little miracle.”

The “miracle” is something of a medical marvel. Doctors performed what’s called an ex-utero intrapartum treatment (Exit) on Ivoreè when she was still partially in her mother’s womb, creating an airway to allow her to breathe until the tumour could be removed.