Melbourne dad calls for help to bring daughter from Vietnam for lifesaving surgery
An Aussie dad is desperately trying to bring his six-month-old daughter home for life-saving surgery after she was born in Vietnam with a chromosomal defect.
Tim Maclatchy's partner Tram Doan gave birth to baby Caroline in January and the parents soon realised something was horribly wrong when she started having seizures.
The little girl was diagnosed with DiGeorge syndrome and has a number of urgent issues, including a hole in her heart and breathing difficulties.
Mr Maclatchy is now trying to raise $50,000 to fly Caroline to Australia and be treated by heart surgeons at Melbourne's Royal Children's Hospital.
The English teacher said the past six months have been difficult for the couple, but they hope to raise the money to medivac the little girl.
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"It's been pretty terrible, but it's amazing what you can adjust to. At the start we were going in every three hours to feed her," he told The Age.
"We just got used to waking up in the middle of the night and going in [to hospital] to feed her."
Mr Maclatchy has gotten Caroline an Australian passport and is in the process of having a Medicare card organised.
"We've been talking to the Royal Children's Hospital and we just want to get her to Australia because the hospital service here – they haven't had much experience," he said.
Caroline spends her days on a ventilator, but needs to be able to breathe with an oxygen mask and tank to fly internationally.
"Once she gets the doctor's clearance, we have International SOS ready to transport her on a commercial flight medivac," Mr Maclatchy wrote on the GoFundMe page.
"We need the money as soon as possible in case her health declines and we miss this window of opportunity. We don't have insurance or enough money."
The couple have managed to raise $33,000 since the fundraising page was started last month.
