MIAMI (WSVN) - A little boy with a birth defect traveled to South Florida for a major operation that has already saved one life and changed another.
Six-year-old Mesut Hosein traveled from his home in Trinidad and Tobago to Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami, where he had extensive surgery to fix a birth defect.
“He was born with Apert Syndrome, which is very rare,” said Mesut’s mother, Shazia Baksh-Hosein. “It was the first time I had heard of it, when he was born.”
Apert Syndrome prevents the skull from growing normally.
It can also lead to webbed fingers and toes and a lifetime of surgeries.
Six weeks ago, Mesut underwent the eight-hour operation to separate the bones in his skull and reshape his face.
“This is his second major surgery,” said Hosein. “He has had two to separate his fingers.”
Pediatric plastic surgeon Dr. Chad Perlyn worked with a team of doctors for what he called, “the Mount Everest of operations.”
“We literally took his face down and moved every bone in his face forward to create him a new face,” said Perlyn.
Mesut will spend the next few months wearing a special frame on his face to help in the healing process.
“The family learns how to turn the device,” said Perlyn, “so each day, twice a day, they would turn four little knobs on the frame, which would literally bring his face forward.”
Mesut’s parents are ready to move forward with their little boy’s recovery and get him back home.
“It’s your child, and to look at him lie there in a hospital bed for like a week, and you can’t talk to him, and he’s always like active and jolly. It was hard,” said Hosein, “but now we’re over that, so we’re happy now.”
But for Perlyn and his team, saying goodbye brings mixed feelings.
“Selfishly, would we love to keep him here so I could hang out with my man Mesut, as I call him? Of course,” said Perlyn, “but, you know, when he gets on that plane, and I know he’s going back to his life and the life that he and his family have, it’s such a wonderful farewell.”
The South Florida surgeon and Mesut now share a special connection that spans more than a thousand miles.
Perlyn said he hopes to fly down and check on Mesut’s progress in the next few months.
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