Hope For Daniel “Lets Walk”

Daniel Clifford Fowels was born on the 30th of August 2019 after a long and difficult pregnancy as Daniel was a twin and at 8 weeks in the womb his twin of 6 weeks in the womb past on. Daniel was named after Daniel and the Lions in the bible for his fighting spirit and determination to live through everything, his second name Cifford is after a very special man in my life which was my grandfather ARNOLD CLIFFORD DAVY who too is no longer with us neither, those closest to me would have met or had the honour of meeting him, he was an angel in human form and Daniel too has inherited my grandfather’s character and his great strength.

Daniel was born with many complications which we knew about already from scans which we had been prepared to take on as challenges to overcome, Daniel was born with Skeletal Dysplasia which is basically his bones are not the way they should be. Daniel has scoliosis of the spine which is a curvature of the spine, his hips are not how they need to be and his hands and fingers are not straight like they should be and we have been instructed to use splints whenever possible. We have been to Bone specialists along the way about his hands, legs and feet as he has one flat foot and very double jointed knees to the point that getting him to walk will be a struggle and more than likely we are looking towards more operations to get his little knees to be able to carry his body, This news we only got recently. According to research which we have done, a common occurrence when losing a twin within the womb it can contribute towards the surviving babies body structure, especially the curving of the spine.

Daniel has had an operation(Vertical Expandable Prosthetic Titanium Rib (VEPTR) The Vertical Expandable Prosthetic Titanium Rib (VEPTR) is a curved metal rod that is designed to help children with severe chest deformities breathe.) on his back due to the scoliosis having a part to play in Daniel’s lung pressure and breathing. We had been advised that this operation was only ever done on children as young as 2years of age and upwards so this would be a first on such a young baby (8months old) and that the rods that needed to be placed in his back would be quite big in his back due to him being so tiny but it was either take the chance and give Daniel this fighting chance or not have the operation but to then get ourselves prepared as he would not live for very long.

Of course as any parent would do, we pushed for the surgery knowing that he still may not survive but being the fighter that he is, he survived the 5hour operation which was meant to only be 3hours, he also flabbergasted the doctors to make a great recovery in just 3days as opposed to the 3-4 weeks they had presumed it would take and for him to continue being hospitalised for, which was certainly not the case, by day 5 he was discharged and home.

This time round Daniel was initially booked into hospital on the 02 October 2020 due to pneumonia and battling to breathe and is still currently in NICU. Now the time has come where we have found the underlying problem behind his difficulty with breathing and the lung pressure which has brought us to where we are today.

Daniel has early signs of rsv disease otherwise known as Orthopneumovirus ,This is treatable by a prophylactic medication called palivizuma which is not covered by medical aid.

During his stay he had to get his rods stretched to the max to open his air pipes and stop his body structure for collapsing on his right hand side. Due to the max stretching this pin needs to be replaced in six month time.

We are looking to raise the funds for our boys current & future needs to give him the best life possible as he currently bed ridden.

• Home Nurse @ +/- R 75 000.00 per year
• Patient monitor @ +/- R 25 000.00
• Portable Oxygen condenser @ +/- R 15 000.00
• Co-payment for new Vertical Expandable Prosthetic Titanium Rib in 6 months’ time @ +/-
• Inverter power supply for his oxygen machine to run during power outages @ +/- R 9 500.00
• Upgraded medical aid @ R 25 000.00

R 110 000.

The above is to get Daniel through the next year and beyond

Other donating links have been opened to raise as much as we can.

If you want to donate and want to pay the suppliers directly, please flee free to contact us.

A trust fund is currently been opened were the donations will be transferred for his needs.

We would like to say a very big thank you to all family, friends and strangers which we regard as new friends for all of your help, donations and support. May GOD continue to bless you all each and every single day. We are forever grateful to each and every single person, Thank You xxx

Please visit Daniels FB page for daily updates.