The parents of a baby born in 2002 – weighing just 410g – were told by doctors it would be best to abort because he would not survive being born at only 27 weeks of gestation. Against the odds, however, they refused, and today he’s a happy, healthy young man, reports News24.
Despite Jarryd Grootboom’s mother Renee suffering from life-threatening pre-eclampsia, she and her husband, Jeremy Grootboom, were adamant they were going to bring their firstborn son into the world, no matter the sacrifices or difficulty.
When Jarryd was delivered at Panorama Medi-Clinic in Cape Town on 31 October 2002, several months before his due date in February 2003, he was, at the time, the smallest baby in South Africa to have ever survived.
Doctors predicted a grim future: “He won’t be able to read or write. He won’t attend school,” they warned. “He will be dependent on his parents for life. He will never work and will need to apply for a disability grant.”
But Jarryd not only survived, he thrived, and even though he retained some minor deficits, he has never let them hold him back.
As a baby, he reached milestones much later than his peers, and his oxygen dependency caused damage to his eyesight. His body is still scared from the pipes that once connected him to hospital monitors.
While he perceives certain aspects of life differently from others his age who were not born prematurely, he is a relatively independent young man with a photographic memory and an incredible ability to recall even the smallest details about everyone he meets.
Just weeks ago, he passed his driving licence test and now drives his own car to work every day. Although this seemed impossible years ago, Jarryd has been employed as a merchandiser at Woolworths for four years.
His mother told News24 he had faced a severe lung condition where the pressure in the major arteries of his lungs was dangerously high, and he had to be placed on an oscillator and ventilator.
At just two-months-old, both of his legs fractured, requiring traction. This procedure caused his organs to shift, placing additional pressure on his lungs and leading to their collapse.
“The doctor said the bones in his legs were so fragile, they were like matchsticks. Being born so prematurely, his body couldn’t absorb essential nutrients, such as calcium. He was tiny but active, and he kicked so much that he literally broke his own legs.”
At one stage, Jarryd’s body began rejecting blood transfusions.
“He was born with only 36ml of blood in his body – just six teaspoons – and daily blood draws made transfusions critical. When his body started rejecting them, we truly thought it was the end. The doctors predicted he wouldn’t survive,” she said.
But Jarryd defied expectations.
Warning signs
She said that in the early days of her pregnancy, there was no indication anything was wrong until she became so severely swollen that even fitting a toothbrush between her lips to brush her teeth was impossible.
The doctor prescribed bed rest, and then a scan revealed that the baby’s weight was critically low, with doctors estimating he might weigh only around 500g.
Renee was diagnosed with life-threatening pre-eclampsia – the high blood-pressure condition depriving her unborn child of oxygen and nutrients and placing her own life at risk.
“They told me I would have to terminate the pregnancy, but his father and I said abortion was never an option.”
The hospital in Knysna where they lived lacked the facilities to care for such a premature baby, so she was told she had to be transferred to another hospital.
After researching specialists in micro-babies, Renee was urgently airlifted to Panorama Medi-Clinic in Cape Town.
But her condition deteriorated, and six days later, Jarryd was delivered via emergency C-section.
The family faced many challenges, including being unable to remain in Cape Town indefinitely.
“The doctor suggested I return to work only after three months, so we visited him every other weekend. But every single day, he could still drink my milk because I would pump at home, freeze it, and send it overnight to Cape Town,” Renee said.
After seven months in hospital, Jarryd was finally discharged but still required an oxygen machine. Two months later, the family found that Jarryd had removed the oxygen tubes himself and was breathing on his own.
“We never treated him differently,” said his parents. “He had chores like any other child, and when he reached his limit in mainstream schooling in Grade 3, he transitioned to Carpe Diem School in George, where he stayed in the hostel and even became a hostel prefect.”
Jarryd said he was “so grateful to be alive and to have made it this far”.
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Smallest baby ever to survive goes home
World’s smallest surviving baby leaves hospital after 5 months