Lisa OMalley
TrachKid Profile
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Lisa O'Malley was born on 26 March 1994 at 32 weeks of gestation with a condition called hydrops foetalis. The Dr at a hospital in Cape Town did not have any hope for her and said that she will survive for a maximum of 72 hours. She could not breathe at all by herself because of the fluid in her chest cavity and was ventilated for 5 days. She survived after having all the things that can go wrong with a premature baby as well as her condition. She was two months old when we left the hospital and had a bad stridor.
She got her tracheostomy at the age of 14 months after a bad croup attack. At the same time she had a scope at the Red Cross Children's hospital in Cape Town. We had to wait a few years for her to grow bigger and at the age of 5 yrs old a Dr. at Tygerberg hospital in Cape Town told us that she has got interarytenoid fibrosis. This means that the two tiny arytenoids at the end of her vocal cords are stuck together. To have a normal airway will mean that the arytenoids need to be separated. The only method available to us is the CO2 laser. Until now she had 3 lasers done that was not successful because of the scarred tissue that grows back all the time. Every time the Dr. can only laser about one tenth of a millimetre and about 5 percent of scarred tissue grows back.
On the 6th of July 2000 she had her third laser where we also had a videotape made of the procedure. Thanks to Aaron's Tracheostomy Page on the Internet we discovered Dr. Cotton. We forwarded this tape to him and are waiting for his reply.
Lisa is a very special little girl. She goes to a normal school and is currently in pre-primary. Even though she is only 6 years old she can suction herself and change her own trach. I only need to help her to tie the tape. She does not take her suction pump with to school anymore, because she just blows through her trach in a tissue like any other child will blow their noses. We change her trach everyday and wash and dry the dirty one and use it again the next day. Lisa did not have any infections for the past two years.
Update - September 2000 - We will see Dr Cotton on 18 September for a possible reconstruction.
Update - February 2001 - We arrived in Cincinnati to see Dr Cotton on 16 September after a wonderful 10 days at Disney World. Unfortunately, we could not go to any of the water parks, because of Lisa's trach but still had a fantastic time in the other parks. Dr Cotton decided to do a LTP on 21 September. When they wheeled her out of the operating room after 4 hours my husband and I were ecstatic to see Lisa decannulated! It was the most emotional moment in our lives! She had to stay in the ICU for 6 days with a tube in her nose to keep the graft in place. The tube was removed and our little girl could breathe all by herself for the first time in 5 and a half years. Unfortunately, we had a lot of problems with reoccurring scar tissue. She had to go back in the operating room 10 more times until Dr Cotton was happy enough to send us back to South Africa on an 18 hour flight. Dr Cotton and his team are the most remarkable people and most definitely the best in the world. Every step of this difficult road we always knew exactly what was going on and they were also willing to persevere to the end. Dr Cotton told us that Lisa most definitely holds the record for reoccurring scar tissue. My husband had to come back to South Africa at one point to start work again, so it was not easy for Lisa and I all by ourselves in the USA. Thanks to the Ronald McDonald house and all the wonderful people we met in Cincinnati we were able to get through this period. We came back home one day before Lisa started grade 1. We achieved our goal, because we always said she must start school without a trach. After 5 swimming lessons she can swim and loves it so much. It is wonderful to see Lisa living a 100% normal life after all this time. We still go back to Red Cross Children's Hospital in Cape Town for a check up every month, where a Dr gives feedback to Dr Cotton all the time. Thus far things are going well for her. I can just tell all parents who have to go through a LTP with their children that they must persevere, Dr Cotton always beats a trach. If anyone would like to ask us some questions or just need to talk please contact us at the e-mail address below, I would love to talk to you.
Thank you Dr. Cotton for changing Lisa's life forever!
Update - September 2002 - It has been two years since Lisa's successful LTP. She is in grade 2 and is as healthy as can be. She only had one cold in the past two years since she has been decannulated. She is breathing beautifully and enjoy a normal happy life like any other 8 year old girl. Horse riding is her favorite activity and she already did a few jumps! We could finally build a swimming pool at our house seeing that the fear of something happening to Lisa because of the trach disappeared. To all the other parents who must still walk the road we did with the surgery, never give up hope, with God in the one hand and Dr. Cotton in the other, our family did it! Please contact us at any time.
Freda O'Malley - omalley@worldonline.co.za
History
- Blog
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- Member for
- 4 years 3 weeks
Location
- Country
- South Africa
