A two-year-old boy with a rare heart condition is to undergo life-saving surgery this week — thanks, in part, to a doctor from Bermuda.

Paediatrician Stephen West first heard about Keyler Lopez-Mendoza late last year from the founders of US-registered charity Corner of Love.

The infant lives with his parents and siblings in one of the remotest parts of Nicaragua and suffers from complex cyanotic congenital heart disease, which is literally turning him blue.

The operation he needs to stay alive is not available in his home country so Dr West set about getting him help from a charitable fund for international patients at the Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto, where he did his medical training.

The application to “Herbie’s Fund” was successful and little Keyler is now in Toronto, where he is due to have surgery on Thursday.

On the same day, at noon, Dr West will hold a fundraising event he has dubbed “Buzzed or Bald” at his Wee Care surgery on Elliot Street in Hamilton.

The aim is to collect as much cash as possible for Keyler’s non-medical expenses — such as travel and accommodation — with a promise by Dr West to have his head shaved bald if more than $5,000 is raised or “buzzed” if it’s under that amount.

“Bermuda has almost seemed to adopt [Keyler],” Dr West told The Royal Gazette. “We have been sort of instrumental in getting him involved with Sick Kids.”

He said a team from Bermuda, along with colleagues from Florida, travelled to Nicaragua with Corner of Love in November last year to provide medical care to remote northern villages.

“It was on this visit that baby Keyler, at the age of 18 months, was seen for the first time in his life by a doctor,” said Dr West.

“The doctor immediately saw that Keyler was cyanosed [blue]. His initial oxygen saturations were only 65 percent. He was unable to walk and he needed to be carried everywhere by his mother.”

The paediatrician said if a child in Bermuda received the same diagnosis, they’d be immediately put on medication and air-vacced to a medical facility for treatment.

But for Keyler, nothing was that simple. He lives about five hours from the capital, Managua, and Corner of Love made immediate arrangements to transport him there, where he had an echocardiogram and was seen by a cardiologist.

The youngster was diagnosed with complex cyanotic congenital heart disease, including transposition of the great arteries, and his parents were told the condition could not be corrected in Nicaragua.

The following month, Corner of Love founders Tanya and Nelson Amador visited Bermuda to stay with Dr West and his wife.

“It was at that point that I learned about baby Keyler,” said Dr West. “Having trained at Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto, I knew that they had a ‘Herbie Fund’ that would provide free surgical care to international patients from countries where life-saving corrective surgery was unavailable.

“I was able to contact Dr Andrew Reddington, head of cardiology, and the application process began. After reviewing Keyler’s notes and his ECHO [echocardiogram], the cardiologists and surgeons at Sick Kids deemed that Keyler would make an excellent candidate for corrective surgery. From there, the work in Nicaragua went into full gear.”

Keyler’s birth had never been registered, so four members of his community had to go to Managua to provide signed affidavits to a lawyer to prove he had been born.

Once a birth certificate was obtained, passport applications were submitted for Keyler and his mother, followed by applications to the Canadian and US embassies for visas and transit visas.

“Each of these took months and many, many letters, e-mails and phone conversations,” said Dr West. “Thanks to Tanya Amador for her perseverance in getting all of these accomplished.”

Dr West, a board member of the Bermuda chapter of Corner of Love, travelled to Nicaragua in March and met Keyler for the first time. “He’s blue and he’s obviously blue when you look around his lips or nail beds,” he said. “He has no cardiac reserves so he needs to be carried or pushed in a stroller.

“Developmentally, he’s with it and he’s bright and he’s alert but his speech isn’t developed. He has some words. He doesn’t have the gross motor skills because he doesn’t have the cardiac reserves. Hopefully, all that will change when he has oxygenated blood flowing through his tissues.”

Last week, the doctor went to Toronto and spent time with Keyler and his mother. He also spoke to doctors at Sick Kids, who told him they had not seen or heard of a child with the same combination of heart lesions.

“But they are optimistic that they can correct things,” he said. “I am blown away by what an amazing thing is going to be happening for this little man on August 7. I am glad he is having his surgery, as he is certainly bluer than when I saw him in March.”

Anyone wishing to donate funds for Keyler should contact Wee Care Pediatrics on 296-3032. Dr West is also asking people to send the tot colourful get well cards, preferably featuring his favourite Sesame Street or Cars characters and with a few words of Spanish.

They can be sent to: Keyler Lopez-Mendoza at Ronald McDonald House Toronto, 240 McCaul Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5T 1W5.

The board of Corner of Love in Bermuda is Dr West, Tim and Angela Faries and Megan Parry. Ian Nash has also been instrumental in raising funds for the less-fortunate in Nicaragua and several teams from the Island, including nurses from KEMH, have visited remote villages there to provide medical, dental and vision care.