I FOUGHT FOR MY MIRACLE TWINS
Alex and Mark Bell were told that one of their boys would not survive – but little fighter Zach proved everyone wrong!
At 19 weeks pregnant and expecting twins, exuberant first-time mum Alex Bell heard words no parent should ever hear: “We think you should terminate one baby and keep the other.”
“It was the worst day of my life,” says a teary Alex, who was told one of her babies had a life-threatening heart condition, tricuspid atresia, while the other was perfectly healthy.
A doctor gave her and her husband Mark three choices – terminate the baby in the womb, give birth then take the infant home to die, or face the prospect of their son having numerous life-threatening operations in his first few years.
“We got a second opinion, and that doctor explained there was actually a 95 per cent success rate of Zach surviving the operations. That was the moment we decided we were going to give him every possible chance of living as normal a life as possible,” says Alex, 31.
Tenacious brown-eyed Zach, now three-and-a-half, has repaid that faith with unfathomable strength and resolve. The road has been tough, very tough – but this kid is tougher!
At just 21 days old, Zach had his first operation. Doctors inserted a stent to try to increase oxygen flow in the heart but, unfortunately, it didn’t work.
At two months old and critically ill, he was flown by air ambulance to the Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne for heart surgery.
“That was his first major open heart surgery and it was heartbreaking,” says Alex, who lives in Adelaide with Mark, 40, Zach and his twin brother Lucas. “But he’s such a tough little kid.”
At about 15 months old, Zach had another major heart operation. “All up, he was out [unconscious] for about 12 hours – and then he was back to his fighting spirit. He was out of ICU less than 48 hours later, and four days after his operation he was pulling himself up out of his cot and playing games.”
The next 12 months are critical in young Zach’s life and will determine if he is strong enough to undergo his next, and biggest, childhood heart surgery. Even if all goes well, he’ll still require a heart transplant when he’s an adult, to ensure a long life.
“Zach’s been thrown some curve balls before and he’s come through them with flying colours,” says Alex. “There’s no reason to think he won’t get through any others that life throws at him.”
The Bell family chose to tell their story to Woman’s Day to help raise awareness for Heartkids (www.heartkids.org.au), a national charity that provides lifelong support for those with congenital/childhood heart disease and their families.