Hi Kelly,
Just a quick shoutout to say thank you for your blog on Branchial clefts.
Our son Kingsley was born in Newcastle N.S.W Australia on the 8th of May, 2013. He was a perfect, healthy baby in every way. Not long after birth we noticed a small mark on the right hand lower side of his neck. We voiced our concerns and were told by doctors it was an in mature pore. We knew something was not right as every time Kingsley swallowed the small hole would pucker and pull inwards. After many G.P. consultations, we had given up because no one knew what it was.
Fast forward 6 years...we found an awesome ENT specialist by the name of Dr. Daron Cope from Hunter ENT who finally answered all of our questions. Kingsley was officially diagnosed with a Branchial cleft believed to be a second or third. On August 8, 2019 we had it surgically excised at Hunter Valley private hospital under instruction the lesion could have negative effects later in life. It was the biggest decision of our lives as the risk of complications during surgery although unlikely would have a significant impact on Kingsley for possibly the rest of his life. The surgery lasted 2 and a half hours and it was found that a Kingsley had a complete 2nd Branchial arch fistula that extended from the lower right hand side of his neck up through his internal and external carotid arteries and terminated into his tonsils. The entire tract was thankfully removed without any nerve damage.
My partner Dannielle and I would just like to extend our thanks to the information you shared to help us in our decision making and understanding of a family's first-hand account of a relatively rare occurrence.
