The 6-month-old baby, who underwent heart and lung surgery, was exposed to Covid-19 after his surgery, as if his experiences were not already difficult…
And unfortunately, this has put young Erin’s parents, Wayne and Emma Bates, through a very difficult time.
Johanna Sellars, a friend of the Bates family, has taken this difficult process to the ‘gofundme’ website and shared it with those who want to contribute to the family’s process.
“After 10 years of struggling to become parents, Emma and Wayne’s life changed on October 8 when their baby Erin was born. But on October 29, they learned from doctors that Erin had an extremely rare heart condition called tetralogy of Fallot. On December 14, Erin was admitted to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital.”
“On December 23, Erin had her first open heart surgery and spent a week in the intensive care unit…
Just 48 hours after the surgery, Erin became unwell and was taken back to the intensive care unit. The family was told that their daughter was battling RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus) and that they would most likely lose their baby. But Erin kept fighting.’
“After a few months in intensive care, Erin was moved to the intermediate intensive care unit (HDU)…
To understand why Erin was having difficulty breathing on her own, many tests were performed, including CT scans, magnetic resonance imaging and cardiac catheterization, all of which concluded that Erin’s heart was blocking her airways because it was too big for her body.’
“The couple were told that Erin would have to stay in hospital for a while longer.”
‘It was thought that maybe his body would develop without any machines and everything would be fine because otherwise this tiny baby would have to have a tracheostomy…’
But Erin didn’t stop fighting. On Friday, April 24, 2020, everyone would shed tears of joy when Emma, Erin’s mother, shared this incredible news…’
“My daughter lived it and she did it. Our little girl beat Covid-19. We are so proud. Thank you to all the staff at Alder Hey Hospital. You were fantastic.”
But that didn’t mean Erin’s fight for life was over. With the cost of hospitalization and surgery, the Bates family has a long road ahead…
Wayne went back to work to support the family. Emma has been on maternity leave, but this is coming to an end soon, so she can’t go back to work now to stay with Erin and therefore has no income.
Of course, it is quite sad that people fall into such situations just because of financial difficulties…
