Little Maya’s gutsy battle full of heart
Girl’s health woes spotted in womb but she doesn’t let them hold her back
Maya Gourlay is a fighter. After just 12 weeks in mum Rebecca’s womb, her days were numbered.
But now she’s 7 years old and although she has myriad health issues, including cerebral palsy, she’s as feisty as any other kid.
Maya is an identical twin, with sister Zoey, but she got the short straw during her time in the womb.
Zoey had a seamless birth but Maya didn’t get all the nutrients she needed, weighing 700g less, at 1070g, than her sister when born near the end of her 32nd week.
She was so small her whole palm fitted inside her mother’s engagement ring.
Rebecca and husband Oliver discovered they were having identical twins at their 12-week scan and were warned of the impending complications.
That scan revealed that Maya was significantly smaller than her sister and after speaking to a specialist the couple were told the twins’ chances of survival were not good.
“Because it was so early the likelihood of them surviving would be slim and we would expect that both would pass in the womb in the next few weeks,” said Rebecca Gourlay.
It was a bombshell for the couple, who were due to be married three weeks later.
“We had been engaged for years and years and we’d booked the date and were working towards it and the twins were our happy surprise,” Gourlay said.
Instead, she went through their wedding day and honeymoon thinking their twins were dead inside her.
“So it was that whole ‘okay, so at any time during the honeymoon they could both die’ and ‘ I’m walking around with two dead babies in me’.
“It was quite awful, quite horrendous, but we managed to enjoy the wedding day and honeymoon nonetheless.”
She had a scan when they arrived back and discovered both were alive and doing well.
At 22 weeks the couple were again told to consider terminating Maya because she stopped growing for a couple of weeks. Leaving her inside the womb could affect Zoey or leave her brain-damaged.
“But by that point you’re so invested in being a twin parent. It’s so ingrained in you that the two of them are in there,” said Gourlay.
They knew Maya would be at risk of cerebral palsy, which she now has, but didn’t want that to stop them from fighting.
“My husband and I talked about it and were like, ‘if she’s going to fight, and they were our first babies, we felt that it was our job to fight for them’ so we said no thank you [about termination] and carried on.”
At nine days old Maya was identified as having two lifethreatening heart defects — including heart failure due to her aorta being too narrow — which needed instant surgery.
But she was too small, so she had two patch-up operations to tide her over until she was the required 3kg.
“She was tiny. It was like operating on a chicken.”
Again, the family were told that she was going into heart failure again, and to prepare themselves for the worst.
“At this point she had so many operations, so many lines in her hands and intervention and the medical staff were like ‘well maybe it’s time to disconnect her and just hold her,’ let her pass in peace, basically.” But, again they said no and to go ahead with the operation — and it worked.
It was during this time that they met the team from Heart Kids, a charity group that helps children with heart problems. Each week, 12 babies with a heart defect are born in New Zealand, affecting more than 600 new families a year.
This week is Heart Kids appeal week, a fundraising opportunity to help the organisation continue their efforts for families like the Gourlays.
Gourlay said she and her husband knew their daughter
HFor a video report see nzherald.co.nz was a miracle because they had had so many successes throughout Maya’s short life.
She’s clocked up eight surgeries so far — heart, airway, stomach, and grommets.
The little girl’s cerebral palsy is the result of a brain bleed after she was born, and has left her with a weakness down the left side of her body.
She was keen to play netball with her friends but because she has little strength in her left arm, and tires more quickly than other kids, the family came up with a compromise of playing tennis instead.
Gourlay said Maya, who goes to Browns Bay Primary School, didn’t let her health issues hold her back.
“[Maya] doesn’t feel sorry for herself, she gets annoyed and just wants to do what everyone else does.
“With what she’s been exposed to in her life, she’s Robocop. Half girl, half machine.” Anyone wishing to donate to Heart Kids can go here