MIAMI — Reece, the young son of Local 10 reporter Roy Ramos and anchor Nicole Perez, underwent a medical journey that began after what initially appeared to be a routine cold and ultimately led to surgery for chronic ear, nose and throat issues.

Perez told Local 10 that she and Ramos took Reece to Legoland for his fourth birthday.

Shortly after the trip, Perez said Reece developed a cold that persisted despite multiple doctor visits, prescriptions, and a trip to the emergency room, where he received a steroid and additional medication.

Weeks passed, and his symptoms did not improve.

“My husband and I were noticing Reece changing, but not for the better,” Perez said.

Ramos described a steady decline in Reece’s condition.

“Some of the first signs that I noticed with my son was his speech,” he said. “It sounded like every time he was talking, he was congested and he wasn’t pronouncing the words properly, and it was almost as if he couldn’t hear himself speak.”

Perez said the family spent months searching for answers before being referred to Dr. Ramzi Younis, an otolaryngologist at the University of Miami with 25 years of experience.

“If you have signs of sleep apnea, stuffy congested snoring, mild breathing hyperactivity, sleep disorder breathing, big tonsils, turbinates, the standard care is to remove tonsils, adenoids, shrinking the turbinates, and the proof is there,” Younis said.

“If a child has three or more infections, the standard is surgical intervention, which is the tubes because research shows it cuts down the number of infections they have, better hearing, better quality of life, less antibiotics,” he added.

“There is at least one million kids or more that undergo this procedure,” Younis said.

“They are as good as doing nothing,” he added, referring to nasal sprays.

Younis also described the surgery.

“We put them to sleep,” he said. “I’ll go through the mouth, remove the tonsils and adenoids,” he said. “As far as the ears, there’s a microscope, make a small cut in the ear drum, there’s usually some fluid ... suck it out, place a tiny tube 2 mm, and you’ll get good oxygen and ventilation,” he added. “In the nose, you have tissues, confused as polyps — they are normal, they swell and block your nose."

“It’s a special instrument to shrink down and allow the patient to breathe better in the long term,” he said.

Dr. Neil Masters, an anesthesiologist at the University of Miami, explained the anesthesia process.

“When we get them back to the OR, we do sleep IV, basically go to sleep with mask. We put IV, start administering medication, secure the airway and do everything after asleep. It’s less traumatic for kids,” he said.

“We try to use the least amount as possible concerns for neurodevelopmental outcomes like how it affects the developing brain,” Masters said.

“I like to tell parents we’re trying to improve kids’ vision, hearing or in Reece’s case improve sleep and ability to focus. Those benefits outweigh the effects of brief exposure to anesthesia on the body,” he said.

Doctors said the condition is commonly associated with sleep apnea and upper airway obstruction in children.

“The common reason is recurrent infection or fluid,” Younis said. We remove the tonsils because they’re big, causing them to snore, and to have what we call sleep disorder breathing" also known as sleep apnea.

“The draining pipe eustachian tube does not drain, retain fluid, further infection or hearing speech problem,” he said.

“Collapse, scatter them to gasp or stop breathing,” he said.

He added that children may appear “cranky, hyper, agitated” and have difficulty focusing during the day.

Perez said recovery went as expected.

“As far as the recovery — Dr. Younis told us it would be 10-15 days before he felt better — and boy was he right,” she said. “Something as simple as breathing through his nose four months ago was impossible.”

Reece described his improvement after surgery.

“I feel good, I can breathe good, I can sleep good, I can hear good,” he said.

Perez also added that ear tubes typically fall out on their own within six months to two years and stated “if you’re not getting the right answers — trust your gut and keep searching."

Click here to read more stories from Local 10’s Mom to Mom collection.

Copyright 2026 by WPLG Local10.com - All rights reserved.