MARCUS - OUR LITTLE SUPERMAN

10 Issue 1 2013| Marcus’ Journey
Marcus’ Journey
It’s surprising how much more
relaxing your second pregnancy
is. All went well during the
pregnancy and Cameron’s
little brother, Marcus, arrived
exactly on his due date
of 16 November 2011 at
Campbelltown Hospital.
He did so well in the first few
hours of life, until later the next
day when he wouldn’t eat and
began breathing too fast. He
was quickly identified as having
a heart problem and would
require immediate transport to
Children’s Hospital Westmead
(CHW).
Marcus spent his first month
of life in the Grace Centre for
Newborn Care where he was
diagnosed with several heart
conditions the major ones
being; critical aortic stenosis,
mitral regurgitation and left
ventricular dysfunction. He
would require various heart
surgeries throughout his life
however immediate action had
to be taken to correct the aortic
stenosis.
He appeared to do well after
the catheter. After only 3 days
at home though he became
unwell again. On 23 December
we said goodbye to our baby
boy, who was gone for over
7 hours and when he arrived
back he was on ECMO and had
a pacemaker.
On Christmas morning we were
told not to get our hopes up,
that there was little chance that
Marcus would make it through.
Very slowly he became a little
better and he was extubated
again and on C-PAP.
Over the course of the next
4 months our roller coaster
journey continued; He would
get better enough to return to
the ward and then he would
become sick again and rushed
back to PICU.
Finally at the end of February,
we were rushed back to PICU,
this time the left ventricle of
his heart was not functioning
properly. A new medication was
started for Marcus and we just
had to wait and hope that the
medication would work.
Marcus remained intubated for
the whole month of March and
was successfully extubated on
1 April 2012 which was also his
100th day in PICU. The staff in
PICU were fantastic and tried
to help make things as normal
as possible by letting us bath
Marcus and take him for walks
around the hospital and in the
park when we could.
After 5 months, Marcus finally
reached 5kgs and he was doing
well enough to go back to the
ward again. On the day that we
were scheduled to go home
Marcus got bronchiolitis and
we spent the next week in the
isolation ward!
On 24 May 2012 we finally
came home. Marcus no longer
needs the bi-pap and even
though he still has 2 heart
medications twice each day he
is finally doing all the things
that little boys get to do. Our
little superman turned 1 in
November!
This has been the hardest
hurdle our little family has
ever faced, however we would
never have made it through
without the endless support
and dedication from our loving
family, friends and dedicated
teams at the CHW.
A special thank you to
HeartKids who have been with
us from the beginning of our
journey and provided us with
information, support, guidance
and financial assistance. As
a token of our appreciation,
our family held a small
fundraising event in Kiama,
the ‘Zippa Dinna’ which raised
over $11,000 for HeartKids!
An incredibly dedicated
organisation, thank you.
Deb Taylor (Heartmum)
Excerpt from original. Please
visit our website for full story
www.heartkidsnsw.org.au