BRAVE GIRL CLOSER TO HOME
THIS is the photo the Gold Coast has waited days to see — little Lilliana Sheridan being flown from Phuket to Bangkok in Thailand for surgery.
Doctors in Bangkok were operating on the eightmonth-old’s legs late last night after she contracted the meningococcal disease while on a family holiday. They were confident they would not have to amputate.
THAI doctors cut and scraped away at the rotten skin on the blackened legs of sick Gold Coast baby Lilliana Sheridan for two hours late last night.
The Samitivej Hospital Bangkok doctors cleaned the infected flesh, the collateral damage from the meningococcal disease the eightmonth-old girl contracted while on a family holiday in Phuket. Before the operation, doctors hoped the infection had not reached the bone, meaning Lilliana would not lose her legs.
Despite the news, Lilliana’s parents, Jai Sheridan and Elisha Robinson, do not believe she will be healthy enough to fly home for a few weeks.
Lilliana was flown from Phuket to Bangkok on Tuesday night for the specialist treatment. After contracting meningococcal on Thursday, her limbs became swollen and black and blue, causing nerve damage to her skin and possibly muscles. The family had been frantically trying to get a medevac back to Australia, fearing Lilliana’s legs would be amputated in a Thai hospital.
Mr Sheridan said yesterday Lilliana’s condition had not worsened over the past three days.
He said a paediatric doctor on the flight to Bangkok was confident the infection was not too deep.
Doctors would monitor Lilliana’s infection over the next two days. “From what I can gather she will most likely have a skin graft on pretty much the front side of the right leg from her knee nearly to her ankle.
“There are that many scans she has to have and they have to put her legs and hands through them. She has been so strong through this whole thing. She is just living her life.”
Mr Sheridan said he could not bare to think about Lilliana losing her legs and he was happy she was now at the internationally recognised Samitivej Hospital Bangkok.
But he also thanked the doctors and nurses at the Bangkok Hospital in Phuket Town for saving Lilliana’s life.
On Friday, Ms Robinson made a heartfelt plea for people to donate O negative blood as there was none left in the hospital for Lilliana.
Within a day more than 1000 people had donated blood to the Red Cross and Lilliana started to improve.
“Thank you every kind human that has helped us, even if it was just a kind word,” Ms Robinson wrote. “I’ve gone from running down the street with my lifeless baby to hopefully coming home with her in the next few weeks. Thank you isn’t enough.”
THANK YOU EVERY KIND HUMAN THAT HAS HELPED US, EVEN IF IT WAS JUST A KIND WORD MOTHER ELISHA ROBINSON