Yesterday we showed you some of the delicate surgical procedure to repair 4-month-old Ashley Chimilio's fractured skull. As we've reported, the infant was injured on Saturday night when she was caught in the middle of a rock throwing dispute between her mother's family and some rival young men in Libertad village. Those young men have been charged and remanded to prison, but the struggle is far from over for the child they are accused of gravely injuring. Today Keith Swift visited with the recovering infant and her very relieved mother.
Keith SwiftReporting,
A day after undergoing a delicate surgery to repair her fractured skull, 4-month-old Ashley Chimilio’s head and limbs are still bandaged but her eyes are open and she is awake. At her bedside is mom Amanda Sho.
Amanda Sho, Ashley’s Mom
“I am fine and she is doing fine. She plays and she laughs. It is not like before when I thought she wouldn’t have made it. But God was with her so everything went good.”
KS: We know the surgery she underwent yesterday, how nervous were you during that time she being operated on?
Amanda Sho,
“I didn’t feel good at all because my baby was in there. I thought she was going to go and leave me but she pulled through.”
And everything did go as planned in the surgery which was performed by a team of doctors at the KHMH. The hospital’s medical chief of staff Dr. Fernando Cuellar says the procedure was more routine than you would think though extra care was taken with Ashley.
Dr. Fernando Cuellar, KHMH Medical Chief of Staff
“Quite truly this wasn’t so complicated. It was just a matter of aligning the bone in the skull and luckily well the outcome could be good.”
KS: So if this hadn’t been done what would Ashley’s chance of survival been?
Dr. Fernando Cuellar,
“She more than likely would still have quite a good chance of survival however she could have had other complications for example like seizures and so forth because of the pressure exerted on the brain from the bone that was displaced downwards.”
KS: Did her age in anyway make it more difficult or did you have to be more careful?
Dr. Fernando Cuellar,
“Of course. Until just recently we upgraded even the instrumentations for such smaller clients.”
KS: Once she fuller recovers will she go on to live a normal life?
Dr. Fernando Cuellar,
“Well hopefully we have the future female Prime Minister of Belize right here.”
No word yet on when Ashley will be released from the hospital as there are follow-up tests that still need to be run including a CAT scan scheduled for tomorrow.