Givealittle baby a heart

A little baby boy was born on the 10th of September 2019 with only half a heart. He means the world to his family, however he is living with Multiple Congenital Heart Defects. The pipes that flow between his heart and the rest of his body are in the wrong places and the left side of his heart didn't developed and isn't working at all. Without a series of surgical interventions, he won't have a viable circulatory system and he will die. He had his first cardiac catheter on the first day of his life and it's been full on ever since. He had an Atrial Septostomy, where a medical team send a tube through a vein to his heart, then they used a balloon to stretch open a hole between his top two chambers of his heart to help his blood mix, followed by a series of other complicated tests and procedures. He had two open heart surgeries in a row and another major one called the Glenn procedure. He will still need at least one more to survive and possibly still need a heart transplant at some stage in the future.

The Newman family which consists of Sam (dad), Rose (mum), 5 children and their elderly dog, Mr Puppy became a pet therapy dog while in Auckland, which helped other patients take a little bit of the strain off whole being stuck in hospital. However, he has since passed away. They relocated from their home in Northland to Auckland

The older son and daughter remain in Northland. They have been renting a HNZ house near Auckland Starship hospital. On 10th September 2019, Baby Titaha was born 5.25kg at the Auckland Maternity ward and went straight into the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) where a cardiology team and pediatric doctors worked with specialized nurses to give their baby the medical care he needed to ensure he gets the best start in life. Then when he was stable enough, he was able to go home for a few weeks and be a normal baby. This was sort lived in the end, as reality caught up and he needed a lot of time in hospital and he has been back and forward between the Heart Ward 23b and the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit ever since.

As an Ambulance Officer trained at First Responder level, while in Auckland, Sam transferred some of his skills to looking after their baby. Working along side doctors and nursing staff and he has also helped others in the Auckland region with a community garden he made with the family and through a variety of volunteer work. He has done leadership training with Search & Rescue, Major Incident Support Team (MIST), who Rose is also a member of and St John. He has volunteered his time helping out on the Auckland Metro Ambulance service, South Auckland Health Shuttle, SPCA Outreach Pet Therapy program and Gift-a-Smile, volunteering time to help package for the homeless and other Starship families. They don't know how long they've got with their baby, so their key goal is to stay close so that the family can love their fragile little baby better and support him through his long fight against Congenital Heart Disease together.

Thank you all for taking the time to read our story. We will be regularly uploading new photos and sharing updates of Baby Titahas progress when we can and we'll start adding links to pages with more detailed information explaining exactly what is going on with his heart and the repairs to help you understand the medical procedures he needs better. A lot of things are going to have to go right if he's to have a quality of life outside of the hospital. Please feel free to help spread the word by sharing this page. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all your kindness. Your all wonderful.