Isabella walks again thanks to RCH

Isabella started walking at 9 months old, she was unstoppable! At 11 months old she suddenly stopped walking and wasn’t herself. After X-rays and ultrasounds on her hips she was thought to have viral myositis. A week later Isabella started suffering from severe pain episodes. We drove her straight up to The Royal Children’s Hospital Emergency Department, and we are so glad we did.

Clinically Isabella was ok, she looked healthy, had no fever and all her bloods came back ok. It was at this point the doctors listened to me when I said I knew something wasn’t right, and they watched the videos of her pain episodes. They did an MRI on her back and she was diagnosed with lumber discitis and spinal osteomyelitis of L3-L4. Isabella was on the sugar glider ward and absolutely everyone we dealt with went above and beyond and were amazing. Words that resonated with me that a doctor said were; ‘we treat these children as if they were our own’.

And as the days passed, we witnessed this. Isabella had IV antibiotics and a CVC line put in so that she could continue her treatment at home. Yesterday, Isabella started walking again.

We will never forget the treatment we received at this hospital. Not only are the doctors remarkable knowledgeable, but they are empathetic, they listen and like they told us, they really do treat these kids as if they are their own. Forever grateful. A bit shout out to Tommy a nurse on the sugar glider ward who Bella just loved and who was so good to us xxx