RARE REAL LIFE
Amy Ash, 28, from Liverpool, prayed that her little girl would get more than just a second chance at life...
Snuggling up on the sofa, everyone was glued to the telly. My daughters
Ella, now eight, and Priya, five, giggled along to Lilo & Stitch.
Ella was a Stitch superfan – her bed was covered in Stitch toys and cushions.
‘You might as well be Stitch!’ I laughed.
After all, she was dressed in her matching Stitch tracksuit and slippers.
Ever since she was little, Ella had always loved Disney.
‘Ohana means family,’ Ella would say along with her favourite film.
But for me and my partner Antony, 25, Lilo & Stitch’s main message had always been especially close to our hearts.
When Ella was 10 months old, she experienced sudden heart failure in October 2016.
At first, the doctors thought that her left heart ventricle was abnormally enlarged.
But in June the following year, she was diagnosed with abnormal coronary artery syndrome at Freeman Hospital in Newcastle.
It meant one of the major arteries was blocked.
She had been born with the condition, but it hadn’t presented until now.
All we’d known had been ripped away, and it was absolutely terrifying.
Especially as now, her condition couldn’t be eased by medication either.
Seeing Ella undergo surgery to unblock the artery at just 18 months old, was terrifying.
And matters only got worse for Ella when the surgery was unsuccessful.
‘We’re going to assess Ella for a heart transplant,’ the doctors said.
‘She’ll be on the emergency transplant list, but we don’t know how long she’ll have to wait.’
I wished I could’ve taken my heart out of my chest and given it to her.
While I broke down, Antony was my biggest support.
Putting his emotions aside, he threw his arms around me. All we could do was pray that Ella would somehow pull through until her miracle heart arrived.
We had no idea how long we’d be waiting
While the doctors didn’t have a prognosis for Ella, she had to be placed in an induced coma for a month.
Spending every day by her bedside, I carefully brushed her hair and read picture books to her.
Bringing in her toys from home, including a fluffy dog and her Stitch plushie, I made sure that she still had all her home comforts.
A month later, Ella was weaned off her sedation.
But as the months ticked by, we began to lose hope – we were still waiting for Ella’s heart transplant.
Then, the night before Halloween in 2017, we received some news.
Just as Ella, dressed as a witch, was about to eat some sweets during the ward’s Halloween party, a doctor scampered into the room.
‘Don’t let her eat those!’ he exclaimed. ‘We’v
