We’d watched our lifeless baby for 50 minutes and been told to say goodbye... but our little battler made it
‘Our little battler made it through and we finally got to relax as a family’
AMAZING Willow Seagrave and her delighted parents are full of smiles as they celebrate the birthday it was feared the “little miracle” would never see.
Mum Chloe and dad Cole had been told to say goodbye toWillow when she was just three weeks old after she suffered two massive cardiac arrests and her heart stopped beating for over 50 minutes.
A team of 24 doctors and nurses pulled out all the stops to restart her heart – and, after 30 minutes of CPR, the brave youngster briefly regained consciousness.
But seconds later she suffered another arrest, and the fight to save her life started all over again.
After 20 minutes, doctors told Chloe and Cole they had done everything they could, to no avail.
But the couple implored the medics to try one more time – and, three minutes later, Willow’s heart restarted and continued to beat.
Now Willow and her parents have celebrated her first birthday surrounded by friends and family.
Chloe, 24, said: “We’d watched our lifeless baby for over 50 minutes, and were told her time was up, it was time to say goodbye.We begged them to try again.
“They said they would try CPR for five more minutes.They told us that even if she did survive, the brain damage would be unliveable.
“But I told them we couldn’t just give up on her.
“This time each second really did count. We knew that when we got to 300 seconds and Willow’s chest didn’t start rising and falling, she would be gone forever.”
After her heart restarted,Willow was taken to the children’s intensive care unit at Leicester Royal Infirmary to discover what had caused the cardiac arrests.
She was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy, in which the left ventricle – the heart’s main pumping chamber – is enlarged. As the chamber gets bigger, its thick muscular wall stretches, becoming thinner and weaker.
This affects the heart’s ability to pump enough oxygen-rich blood to the rest of the body.
Chloe and Cole, of Melton, near Leicester, were told Willow’s heart was running at less than 10% capacity and she would need a lifetime of support and treatment, possibly including a future heart transplant. However, there was a more pressing issue to deal with.
Chloe said: “The consultant told us very clearly that, having been starved of oxygen for over 50 minutes, they needed to know the extent of the damage caused to Willow’s brain.
“Suddenly our dreams of taking home a happy, healthy baby were blown out of the water.”
But Willow presented her parents and doctors with another miracle when MRI scans showed her brain was unaffected.
Chloe said: “The consultant was speechless when he showed us the results, saying he had literally no idea how she’d done it.
“Babies who’d had CPR for just a few minutes had suffered massive and permanent brain damage, yet here she was, having had no oxygen going to her tiny brain for almost an hour, and she was fine.
“His only guess was that it was the quality of the CPR performed by the emergency team to credit for her miraculous outcome.
“If she’d suffered her cardiac arrest outside of the hospital, it would have been game over.”
Willow was discharged from hospital at five weeks, but Chloe and Cole were horrified when she started projectile vomiting two days later.
She ended up back in hospital and had a life-saving operation known as a Hickman procedure – where a catheter is placed on the right side of the chest wall to allow long-term access to veins.
Chloe said: “We were told our baby desperately needed the procedure to survive, but it was also high-risk, with a high likelihood she might not survive the surgery.
“But our little battler made it through again and we finally got time to relax as a family.We could start to plan our future together.” Since then, Rainbows Children’s Hospice in Loughborough, Leics, has become the family’s lifeline to help them cope.
Chloe said: “We have to be careful everywhere we go because of germs, as Willow is so vulnerable. But at Rainbows, we always know she is safe. Willow is non-stop smiles when she’s there.
“We can’t take her to a normal pool because temperatures are too cold and will shock her, but their hydrotherapy pool is so warm and Willow loves to go swimming. She just loves splashing about, cackling with laughter. It’s so easy to forget what she’s been through.”
Willow has eight lots of medication 14 times a day and sleeps a lot. But her parents say she is working hard to reach her milestones, despite her heart’s limited capacity, which is now 20%.
Chloe said: “Doctors are amazed at how she is doing. Cole and I continue to be grateful for every day.”
To find out more about Rainbows and how you can help children likeWillow, visit rainbows.co.uk