Our precious Emily was born at the Royal Brisbane Women's Hospital on Monday, October 16, 2006 at 1.25am. She was born 13 weeks prematurely, weighed a tiny 1065 grams and was not expected to live through the night, but our couragous little girl exceeded all expectations and fought hard for her life. After many ups & downs, she was finally well enough to come home to her loving family after 100 days spent in the hospital Intensive Care & Special Care Nursery.
We were completely overjoyed to have our precious little girl finally at home with her Mummy, Daddy, big sister Lauren and big brother Mitchell. We thought her battle was over and we could just get on with loving our little miracle baby and enjoy watching her thrive. But despite all our love, care and attention, little Emily wasn't growing as well as was expected and was not thriving as we'd hoped. It was then that we realised that something was wrong and after seeing many doctors, she was diagnosed with an open duct in her little heart and Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension as a result of blood flowing the wrong way to her lungs. She was then put on oxygen therapy and scheduled for surgery.
Emily was 18 months old when she finally had her surgery but it was too late, the damage to her heart and lungs had already been done. She was not improving as expected, and about 6 months after her surgery we were told the worst news... Our precious little girl was terminally ill and nothing more could be done for her. Despite hearing this, we tried hard to stay positive for her and refused to give up the hope that our sweet baby girl would recover.
Emily had been through more in her little life than any little girl should, but she was always so couragous and accepting of her medical treatment. Even at such a young age, she was an inspiration to us all. Despite everything that she had been through, she was a naturally exuberant child who was very intelligent, funny, affectionate and caring with a beautiful love for life. She just relished in being loved. She absolutely adored her family and was so happy when her baby brother Samuel was born - she loved being a big sister. She was just besotted with her 'Baby Sam' and was never annoyed or jealous of him. Emily was very affectionate and loving and just loved to be cuddled. She would make all friends and family who visited pick her up and give her a cuddle so she could cuddle them too. She was just the loveliest little girl imaginable.
Devastatingly, our precious little Emily Grace did lose her battle with her illness on Saturday, July 24 at about 7am. She passed away at home with her family. She was wrapped in her Mummy's arms and had her Daddy by her side. She will always be remembered with much love and is terribly missed by all who knew her. She is often in our thoughts, will never be forgotten and will forever be in our hearts....