"Our 8 year old son Max has a medical condition known as Hydrocephalus, sometimes called water on the brain. This condition used to be fatal but because of technology introduced in the 1970s, our son has a device called a shunt that is under the skin and allows our boy to have a somewhat normal childhood. A true God send.
"Over 7 ½ years, Max had never had a problem. But we knew serious problems could develop leading to coma and death if not treated quickly. Last year, our son suddenly became very sick. Doctors diagnosed and treated him for flu but his condition kept getting worse. The day after our third visit to doctors, the pain from headache had him in tears, he couldn't eat or drink and he had lost 5 pounds.
"He finally was admitted to the hospital where they said there was no more time to waste; he had to be air lifted immediately to Oahu for possible neurosurgery. The air ambulance was already in use. We had to wait another 3 hours. My boy was now in intense pain and pleading with me to help him make the headache go away. You can imagine my feelings of helplessness.
"Max was finally airlifted to Oahu where surgery was performed. It turns out we were very lucky. The three-day delay could have been fatal. This is the reason for our support of the proposal to build a medical facility in West Maui. Those two midnight runs to the other side during intense rainstorms (both nights) are something we hope to never have to repeat."
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