Baby Bentley is coming home

The family of a baby born with a serious and life-threatening medical condition is attributing his miraculous recovery to the love, support and prayers of a city full of well-wishers as he comes home to the Sault about five weeks earlier than expected.

Bentley Wylie and his mom, Alyssa Plamenco, will be flying home today to continue his recovery at the Sault Area Hospital.

Baby Bentley, or Benny, as he's come to be known to the more than 3,500 members of the Sault Ste. Marie Helping Hands Facebook group was the little fighter who galvanized the group and began its labour of love just a few weeks ago.

Now he's become the reason so many members of that group start their day with a smile each day as it follows his progress while also updating everyone on the stories of so many others the group is helping.

Benny was born on February 6 with a rare condition known as Gastroschisis, a condition that affects 1 in every 500,000 unborn babies.

He developed with his intestines outside his body and, on February 14, doctors at Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto operated to put them in his abdomen.

At the time they predicted he would need as much as eight weeks of recovery time in the hospital in Toronto.

Within a week or so it became apparent that Benny was a very resilient little guy as he began to take breast milk and eliminate like any other newborn baby his age.

The earlier-than-expected homecoming for baby Bentley, his mom and his grandma will be a blessing for the family in so many ways.

Because Plamenco is under 18 her mom, Christina Lapossie, has had to stay in Toronto with her and take a leave of absence from her job to be able to do that.

Now they will be able to go home and still be near-by as Benny continues his recovery in Sault Area Hospital but there are still bills to be paid.

Helping Hands, led by Kelly Turner, has so far raised $6,000 for various recipients, $1665 of which has gone to help Benny's family to stay at Ronald McDonald House in Toronto. 

"Without Kelly Turner doing what she is doing, without Helping Hands, Alyssa and I would not be able to stay in Toronto," Lapossie told SooToday.com in an earlier interview. "It would be impossible for us to be able to afford to stay at Ronald McDonald House, travel to and from Sick Kids, eat and still have to worry about all the daily bills piling up back home."

Benny is not out of the woods, yet, Turner tells SooToday.com, but he's doing very well and recovering much faster than expected.

The photo above shows Benny with is mom, Plamenco, and his dad, Brenden Wylie.

It was provided by the Helping Hands Facebook Group with permission from Benny's family.