ELLA’S MIRACLE SURGERY
Now there are no obstacles in her way
Entering the arrivals lounge at Auckland Airport, young Ella Yearbury smiles excitedly when she spots her dad Brett and younger brother Frankie waiting for her.
It’s been three weeks since the five-year-old headed to the US with her mum Kat for life-changing spinal surgery and three months since the family first featured in Woman’sDay.
Stepping towards her two favourite guys with the help of a walking frame, Ella beams – not only because she has missed them, but because she is now on the path to walking independently.
The $150,000 surgery has been a great success. “All of our hard work has paid off completely,” grins Kat, 34.
Ella – who has cerebral palsy and epilepsy as the result of a severe brain bleed she suffered at three days old – spent her recent fifth birthday at St Louis Children’s Hospital in Missouri, under the surgical care of paediatric neurosurgeon Dr T.S. Park.
The operation involved cutting the unusually tight nerves in Ella’s spine, which had given her a life of painful cramps and spasms, meaning she wasn’t able to stand flat-footed and spent most of her time in a wheelchair.
But since returning home to South Auckland, Ella’s been learning to live a new life without wheels. Kat tells, “When she’s using her walking frame, she’ll also use her hands to gesture when she’s talking, then without realising it, she’s let go and is standing there on her own.”
On her first day back at kindy, Ella walked 30 metres in one go. “She had no real intention to stop and had a big grin telling all her teachers and friends, ‘Look what I can do!’” smiles Kat, adding that Ella is also sleeping through the night ht now she’s free of debilitating muscle contractions.
“The service and care we received in the US was amazing, and Ella was a rock star. She’s now telling everyone, ‘No, you don’t hold me – I’m doing it myself!’ She has huge independence.”