The only home that Kenrick Bogle has ever known has been a hospital in Jamaica.

He can't talk or walk or breathe on his own but this four-year-old, born in the aftermath of a hurricane, is a force to be reckoned with, and he is coming to Toronto's Hospital For Sick Children for surgery that could change his life.

"You can see he's a fighting child and he's determined to live," his father, Peter Bogle, told CBC Toronto.via video on Facebook Messenger

But the surgery will cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and a fundraising page has been set has been set up to help pay for his operation, which could happen as early as next month.

Kenrick Bogle from Jamaica who has lived in a Kingston hospital all his life is expected to come to Toronto's SickKids for life-changing surgery. 2:16

Bogle says the situation has been so hard on the boy's mother, she can't visit Kenrick alone in the hospital.

Staff at Bustamante Hospital for Children in Jamaica get Kenrick ready to celebrate his birthday. (Picture courtesy of Peter Bogle)

Hospital becomes home

Kenrick came into the world two days after Hurricane Sandy ripped through Kingston, Jamaica in 2012, and doctors quickly realized there was a problem.

His father and mother were told their son had trouble breathing and needed to be transported to the Bustamante Hospital for Children, also in Kingston.

Peter Bogle celebrating his son Kenrick's birthday at Bustamante Hospital for Children. (Picture courtesy of Peter Bogle)

Kenrick was diagnosed with a tracheoesophageal fistula, an abnormal connection between the esophagus and the trachea.

That connection was causing food and saliva to enter his windpipe and travel down into his lungs, causing chest infections.

"His case is the most severe that we have seen in Jamaica," the boy's physician, Dr. Marsha James, told CBC Toronto by telephone.

James says surgery was done to correct that. At the time Kenrick was two days old and it didn't go according to plan.

"Normally we try to re-connect the top end and bottom end of the esophagus, so that he can swallow normally and food would go down into the stomach but his top end and bottom end were too far apart," said Dr. James.

'Kenrick has been very dear to me,' says Dr. Marsha James. (Picture courtesy of Dr. Williams)

He needed another surgery but doctors had to wait until he was older.

At 15 days old, Kenrick suddenly stopped breathing and it was discovered that he also had tracheomalacia, a condition that causes the trachea to collapse.

"Our limitation is that we didn't have the equipment or expertise to help Kenrick. Which is why he remained in the ICU for so long," said James.

The search to find an international hospital to take his case has been ongoing.

James said a hospital in the United States agreed to do his surgery, but at a cost of US$1 million.

The Hospital For Sick Children in Toronto said it could be done for more than US$600,000, said James.

Coming to Canada

Jamaican Health Minister Dr. Chris Tufton, and a Jamaican firm called Market Me Consulting, took up Kenrick's cause.

In the fall, the minister was joined by Wes Hall, the chair of a shareholder services company in Toronto called Kingsdale Advisors, for a tour of Bustamante Hospital for Children.

Hall met Kenrick for the first time.

"It just broke my heart when I saw him because he had a tube in his nose. He had a tube in his stomach. He couldn't eat," Hall told CBC Toronto via Skype.

Wes Hall, Toronto businessman and SickKids Foundation board member, is helping to bring Kenrick to Toronto for surgery. (Kingsdale Advisors)

Hall, who is also on the board for SickKids Foundation, started making calls to hospital officials.

"They were able to negotiate the costs down because a number of the doctors volunteered their time and the staff volunteered their time," he said.

Hall says the Jamaican government is donating US$80,000 to the cause.

Hall says the goal now is to raise $283,000 Canadian. If they don't reach that, Hall has made a commitment to SickKids to pay the difference.

"We continue to work on the logistics of bringing this patient to SickKids." a spokesperson for the hospital, Matet Nebres, said.

'I'm very grateful'

Kenrick's condition prevents him from eating normally because food ends up in his lungs and causes infections. (Market Me Consulting Limited)

Hospital officials in Jamaica say they've been informed that the surgery is on track to take place in Toronto next month.

"I'm hoping that his fifth birthday he'll not be in the ICU," said Dr. James.

Peter Bogle says he's grateful to everyone who is helping make the operation happen and says he now sees it's possible things are "going to be great for my baby Kenrick.

"I'm just looking forward for that day," he said.