Appeal gives boy another lifeline

Arkeles Mafi-Komene, with his mother Teawhi Hepi, is this year's Countdown Kids Hospital Appeal ambassador. Photo / Supplied

Many Northland children have benefited from the Countdown Kids Hospital appeal but none more so than six-year-old Arkeles Mafi-Komene.

Arkeles has been named this year's Northland face of the appeal.

Born premature at 27 weeks with a lung infection, Arkeles spent the first three months of his life in Starship Hospital's intensive care unit, becoming one of the unit's longest residents.

His mother, Teawhi Hepi, recalls the day she learned of the baby who would become her son.

"We received a phone call that there was a young baby born in Starship Hospital and, if my partner and I would like to come to Auckland, there was a baby waiting for us.

"There was a young mum who had five children under five and she couldn't cope with another one."

Eventually, Ms Hepi and her partner were given the all-clear to fly home with their new baby, via Whangarei Hospital where the doctors and nurses could get to know the boy with special health needs.

"Arkeles decided to have a bit of a turn when he got here so it wasn't just a couple of days, it was probably a month or two," Ms Hepi said.

Diagnosed with dystonic spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy, Arkeles spent the first two years of his life visiting doctors and specialists - and in that time using nearly every piece of equipment that Countdown Kids fundraising has provided for the Northland District Health Board.

As if Arkeles didn't have enough to deal with, three years ago he was also diagnosed with nephrotic syndrome, a non-specific kidney disorder.

"Our visiting nurse thought something was up and, when she tested his urine, it became apparent that there was too much protein in it," Ms Hepi said.

As Arkeles eloquently puts it himself: "I was like a big blueberry."