given six months to live by doctors at the city's Hospital for Sick Children.

Little Gerneko Williams, son of Dawnette, was sent to the hospital after local doctors said his arteries were too small to allow sufficient blood and air to pass to the heart.

"The doctors have given him six months to live at the most,'' Dawnette's sister Sharon said yesterday. "They said there's nothing they can do and that if they operate he'll become a vegetable.'' Ms Williams said the Toronto doctors questioned why the baby had been sent to the hospital at all.

When Gerneko was born doctors diagnosed him as having a heart murmur. It was not until April 1 that it was discovered he had two holes in his heart and that his arteries were too small.

Gerneko's paediatrician, Dr. George Shaw, told Dawnette that her son's holes might close up as he grew older but that an operation would have to be done immediately to rectify the problem. The baby was also examined by local consultant paediatrician, Dr. June Hill.

Grandmother Mrs. Astoria Williams, who regularly babysits the child, said she had noticed no irregularities in his appearance other than his skin seemed to be a purple colour.

Ms Williams said Gerneko was released from hospital on Wednesday morning. "He looks healthy and he's doing a lot of smiling but the doctors said his arteries are closing up.

"He's put on a lot of weight and his skin colour seems normal,'' she said.

"He appears to be lightening up but he hasn't cried since he went there and that was the only time it was really noticeable.'' Ms Williams said her sister was "taking it one day at a time.'' "Dawnette is just keeping quiet and to herself,'' she said. "She didn't expect this at all. She might take a leave of absence from her job once she returns.'' The Williams family returns to Bermuda tomorrow.