Eleanor Taylor
Eleanor was diagnosed with Pnuemoccocal Meningitis at 8 years old, unfortunately this caused a lot of damage to her heart and she had to undergo 5 open heart surgeries to help to correct it. Here her mother Diane tells us about their journery at the Royal Brompton Hospital;
"It started with 1. Aortic and tricuspid infective endocarditis.
2. A ross procedure, tricuspid vegectomy and VSD closure in June 2007.
3. Closure of LVOT-RA Shunt June 2007.
4. Permanent endocardial pacing system inserted August 2007.
5. Repair of aortic valve December 2008, which was a disaster, she was in theatre for 27 hours.
I have never felt so lost in ally my life. We were advised that her heart had failed and the only way for her to stay alive was to insert a BiVAD, until a new heart became available. We were completely gutted, not for us but for her. What did any of us do to deserve all this. She certainly didn't. She was in a complete coma for 3 weeks, but we stayed by her bedside the whole time, talking, talking and talking. Until we received the phone call for the heart transplant. She was transferred to GOSH for the operation, number 6. The operation was a success and she spent 3 months in GOSH recovering. It was a long recovery due to her being so sick beforehand.
Now she is 11 years old. I still can't believe the journey we have all been through, her brother and sister have at last there big sister back home and we are complete again.
Once again a happy family looking forward to the future.
We would like to say big thanks to Dr. Sethia, Nic Judd (cardiac nurse), Jane Docker and the nurses and doctors at the Royal Brompton Hospital."
Eleanor's story has been featured on a BBC1 programme called 'Children's Emergency' which has been shown on Tuesday evenings throughout May and June 2010.
