Earlier this year, while his parents were making a brief stopover in Montreal to attend a conference, a baby fell seriously ill but, according to the latest information, should be recovering.
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Augusto, the nine-month-old boy born to an Argentine couple, suddenly fought for his life last March. He was admitted to the Hospital for Sick Children on April 19 and his parents were diagnosed on April 2, when they were only due to stay in the country for three days.
“He’s doing much better,” his father Matias Andretich told the Global Network.
The hospital’s medical team had to attempt to resuscitate the infant through intubation while on-site physicists tried to understand what caused his condition.
Finally, on April 2, the diagnosis was made: it was rhombencephalitis that affected the child, a form of encephalitis. Augusto would have contracted the virus during the trip.
Since Augusto was given the green light, he has continued his recovery at a rehabilitation center in Buenos Aires, where he will stay for at least a month. He will have to keep working so that he can gradually breathe independently again.
In Buenos Aires, Augusto has to continue the brain exercises prescribed by the doctors.
However, the past few months have been draining for Augusto’s parents, both emotionally and financially, as they learned their insurance covered only a small portion of the costs related to the incident, which totaled $17,000 per day.
Air transportation cost nearly $200,000. An online fundraiser has been set up to support both parents.
Matias explained that he must continue the therapies prescribed for him even after leaving the center. The father explains that he remains worried about the future, but that he believes the worst is behind him at the moment.
“It’s going to take a long time, but he’s really getting better,” he explains.