03/10/2024
The following write up is from Noah's Ark Charity, based at the University of Wales Hospital in Cardiff. It is a little snippet of what our Ella has been through & how grateful we are as a family:
Little Ella may only be four but she’s been navigating life-threatening health challenges since before she was born. In Leah's 20 week scan it was discovered that Ella's heart was on the wrong side, compressing her right lung. She was also born with tracheo-oesophageal fistula, which means she was born unable to swallow. Ella needed to be resuscitated at birth and had her first surgery at three days old. Since then, Ella has needed over 36 oesophageal dilatations to stretch the narrowing of the oesophagus.
After celebrating her second birthday, Ella fell critically ill after suffering a rare but extremely dangerous complication from the dilations. A hole which had formed in her oesophagus had developed a refistula, causing a hole in her airway which left her unable to breathe.
Ella underwent open-heart surgery at Great Ormond Street Hospital to repair the hole, using the lining of her heart to patch up her airway and repair her oesophagus. Her parents, Arwel and Leah, remember this time vividly and the memory of Ella sedated and ventilated at Noah's Ark still brings them to tears. Ella continues to check-ups and tests to monitor when she'll require another dilation. Arwel and Leah praise their daughter’s immense spirit and say that her joy brings light to all who know her.
Recently, Ella's 97-year-old great-grandfather Teg passed away. Teg was a keen supporter of the charity and at his funeral, the family chose to do a collection for the Noah's Ark Children’s Hospital Charity in his honour. Ella will be a patient until she reaches adult services, she is looked after by the respiratory and cardiac team, which is why Teg wanted this collection to be given to the Noah's Ark Charity. This week, Leah, Arwel, Ella, and her younger brother Ollie, visited the hospital to present a donation of £715 with Ella signing the cheque on the family’s behalf.
Leah and Arwel are so deeply grateful to Noah's Ark Children's Hospital for saving Ella's life 3 years ago ❤️