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Blue but beautiful.
Ellen Allala let out a loud squeal at birth – and so did her worried parents. Ellen’s mother got sick during the 17th week into her pregnancy. With a virus thought to be the flu as well as having placenta previa where the placenta covers the cervix, there was concern….a healthy birth could be exceedingly difficult. For both mother and child.
After only a 35-week gestation and an emergency C-section delivery at Baptist South, Ellen was immediately rushed to the Newborn Intensive Care Unit at Wolfson where she was diagnosed as having CMV – cytomegalovirus complicated by congenital heart defects.
The struggle for survival had begun and multiple challenges followed. Ellen was in the Newborn Intensive Care Unit for six months. And then within 24 hours of being released to go home, Ellen became unresponsive. . She was rushed back, this time to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit where she would remain another year. Her parents continually watched their daughter face life threatening issues. There were also other complications such as her profound hearing loss not uncommon for CMV babies. But miracles surrounded this tiny baby and on February 5, 2008, Ellen, who was born on August 18, 2006, was finally able to go home after spending her first year and a half at Wolfson.
She still has her trach, but the doctor plans to remove it as soon as cochlear implants are placed in her ears to try to improve her hearing and to possibly give her the balance needed for learning to walk. Developmentally, she is the age of an 18-month old baby, but continues to achieve developmental milestones. With such a tumultuous beginning, it is expected she would be a little behind.
Today, little Ellen is doing well. In fact, she seems like a normal child but her family knows that, really, she is a miracle. Thanks to Dr. Mary Lim, Dr. Danielle Walsh and Dr. Jose’ Irazuzta and the expert medical team at Wolfson.
Note:
Because Ellen had a life-threatening illness at birth, Ellen is a patient of Community Peds Care, a pediatric palliative and hospice program for children with life-limiting and life-threatening conditions. The program offers in-hospital and in-home medical, nursing, psychosocial, spiritual, volunteer and other services to support, comfort and care for children and their families. |
