Heart mum, Lauren, shares her brave son, Elijah’s story:
(The photos in this story were taken by and belong to the author, depicting their family’s personal journey.)
Elijah is our hero.
He was born at 31 weeks with lots of lung problems (bilateral pneumothorax) and also tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) and pulmonary atresia (PA).
Elijah had open heart surgery at one year old and needs more for the rest of his life.
He also had five other heart surgeries by catheter, which took place before the open heart surgery.
When he was two weeks old, we were told that he wasn’t improving, that he needed a ventilator and to consider palliative care. I fought and screamed and shouted, advocating for Elijah, while doctors were telling me to let him go.
We discovered that he wasn’t being suctioned enough and his ventilator was blocked with a mass amount of mucus, causing his left lung to collapse. This was on top of the lung conditions he already has.
He’s now four years old and still absolutely perfect. Elijah has also been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID).
He’s our miracle.
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