Ellery’s Parents “Eternally Grateful” to RCH

The day adorable little Ellery was born she was not responsive and subsequently suffered a cardiac arrest. She was immediately taken away from her parents while they began resuscitating her. “The image of holding her so peacefully in our arms as we did with our firstborn abruptly ended, but I knew we had much more important and serious things to worry about,” her father Mario, notes.

Later that evening, Ellery was immediately brought into the Rosella Ward (PICU) at The Royal Children’s Hospital where she spent the first 16 days with an open chest cavity to cannulate ECMO into her heart, while the cardiologist monitors her heart function, as well as giving the heart, lungs and other organs time to recover.

It was suspected then that she had a condition called “hypertrophic cardiomyopathy” and unfortunately, Ellery and her family needed to wait on her recovery to determine the next step.

The uncertainty was met with another blow, when the team failed to wean her off ECMO as her heart muscle still could not cope by itself and continued to depend on ECMO support. Shortly after, a team from genetic testing carried out an expedited test which would help the specialists and her family understand and decide if continued support could be given to Ellery.

Their prayers were answered when the test came back negative, which meant that for the time being with all the data that was available, they could not determine if hyperthropic cardiomyopathy is what Ellery’s heart underlying condition was. Ellery then had her chest closed & ECMO moved to peripheral for further support. “Our little fighter continues to show us what’s possible! Slowly but surely we see her heart function improves and she eventually was able to wean off ECMO completely.”

After spending a total of 2 months at the RCH, Ellery finally made it home with her family. Ellery’s journey with RCH continues to this day with her outpatients’ appointments, tests & therapies but she is thriving!

“RCH & their team have been monumental in Ellery’s care and a huge part of her life.
We want to express our utmost gratitude from the bottom of our hearts to those that have cared for Ellery that it is nearly impossible to mention one by one, but each of you are so special in looking after not just Ellery and our family, but also every other child and their family as they go through a very difficult time. We are eternally grateful. Thank you!!” her family expressed.