Love 927 DJ Kenneth Kong, 41, took to Instagram to share a heart-wrenching post yesterday (Sep 13). He revealed that his younger son, Kobey, had just gone for surgery. Kenneth and his statistician wife Wei Ni have three kids — six-year-old Kyler, and boy-girl twins, Kobey and Karys, who will turn two on October 31.

“[A] five hour surgery. It was longer than expected, so dad and mum were anxiously waiting in the hospital. Thankfully, it turned out that the doctor didn’t want you to suffer so much, and completed two surgeries in one go! Thank you doctor for your skilled hands, the surgery was a success. Next, we’ll have to see how the brave Kobey recovers!” wrote Kenneth.

What I wish to share is that when we saw the specialist, he actually mentioned that they perform this kind of operation quite often. When we asked why there’s such a high percentage of toddlers affected, he mentioned that there are sufficient studies that connect this condition to the use of pesticides. This may be a problem that affects pregnant ladies, especially in their first trimester, or an inherited condition. It may skip generations, but basically when there is more exposure to pesticides, there may be a genetic impact on the baby,” explained Kenneth.

So I want to advise everyone to try and refrain from using pesticides. Instead, go for more natural alternatives if possible,” he added.

As Kobey and Karys were born six weeks premature, they were a little smaller compared to full-term babies. At the time of his birth, Kobey weighed just 1.4kg.

When he was born, the doctor said his growth might be slower [than other kids his age], and after that, he was diagnosed with this problem, said Kenneth. When he was just a newborn, we already knew that he needed some corrective surgery to rectify the problem. We just didn't know exactly when, but the doctor suggested that it be done before he turned two.”

Along the way we had to monitor his growth ‘cos we were worried that if he was not growing fast enough, there would not be enough flesh or skin for the doctor to work with. We also went through a few rounds of jabs to boost his immunity and growth,” added Kenneth.

Unfortunately, while the surgeon managed to complete two surgeries on Sep 13, the next morning, Kobey’s wound was not healing well, and there was swelling and bleeding”.

“[The doctor] made a judgement call to operate on him again. But for us, we didn’t know what was going on at all. After another two hours in the operating theatre, we received the good news that it was a success,” said Kenneth.

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, each patient can only have one caregiver at any one time.

I couldn’t even see him before the operation. It did affect him and us quite a bit. And since he’s only two, there was no way to explain something like that to him, sighed Kenneth.​​​​​​​

The measures are very tough, and hard for us to work around, especially for my wife, who has to take care of the family and this at the same time. With the one caregiver rule, it was hard for me to help as well,” he said.

Luckily, Kobey is now well on the road to recovery, with Kenneth sharing this very adorable video of Kobey post-op. Get well soon, little one!