Four year old Eva has been fighting to survive her entire life. She was born with only half a diaphragm after suffering a diaphragmatic hernia during foetal development. With a hole in her diaphragm, nothing was holding Eva’s vital organs in place and they pushed up into her chest cavity, preventing her lungs from developing normally.
After multiple surgeries, 11 bouts of pneumonia and several strokes, she has defied the odds to be alive today. Eva’s stomach and bowel do not function at all, as a result she is fed nutrients through her blood stream via her liver. She remains on oxygen 24 hours a day and her body is constantly developing complications that drastically endanger her life and require immediate intervention.
Eva was in and out of hospital for the first year of her life, spending more time in than out. However since May 2009, Starship Ward 25 has been her home. Her mother, Tiffany and older sister, Mela, 5, have been living at Ronald McDonald House while her dad, Joel, works in Warkworth during the week joining them on weekends.
From Eva's Mum...
“In reality we understand Cure Kids and their amazing research teams will probably not find a cure for Eva. When no one else would help us they came in to our life. They are in Eva’s life as her friends, family, love and as endless support to us, lending their shoulders with all the energy they can.
My daughter has not been put on this earth to spend her life in hospital and in pain. Maybe Eva is here to help Cure Kids do the amazing job they do and help find cures, futures, peace of mind for other kids as sick as Eva. Maybe in doing so other families will get time with their kids to love, make memories and adore every moment without the worry and pain we have felt in the last three years.
There probably is no cure for Eva, but there is hope for other children. I’ve had four years with my little girl. I never thought, and was told I would never have those years, and that is due to advances in medical care. A few years ago she wouldn’t have made it at all. I would never ever wish to give up any one of those days with her no matter how hard they are - because she is here.” Eva’s Mum, Tiffany
