‘Happy tears’: Moment miracle survivor meets team who saved her life

Cianna is a walking miracle and now she and her family have had an emotional reunion with some of the team of health workers who she has to thank for helping her get back on her feet.

This 11-year-old girl is a walking miracle.

Cianna Brenia was riding a dune buggy with a friend on her grandparents‘ Takura property when disaster struck.

While riding, the buggy ran over a stick on March 6, 2021.

What happened next set the pace Hervey Bay Hospital’s medical team would soon have to work to.

The stick came up underneath the buggy, piercing through her thigh and up through her abdomen.

Cianna didn’t look like she was going to make it.

But, with help of fast-paced hands and minds of staff – emergency, surgical, anaesthetic, intensive care, paediatric, pathology, medical imaging and support – at Hervey Bay Hospital, she did.

On Thursday, almost three months on from the incident, Cianna, showing her battle scars, walked up to meet some of the team who saved her life and helped get her back on her feet.

Cianna in hospital in March and on Thursday, up and walking again.

Her mother Maureen Murphy by her side, she hugged staff and shed “happy tears” of gratitude.

“It’s emotional – the whole process – it was sort of surreal, today, (the medical team’s) faces just took me back (to when Cianna was in hospital) but, this time, it's a happy feeling, because it's such a positive ending,” Maureen said.

“It’s been very healing, not just for me, I've spoken to some nurses, too ... I felt the whole hospital invested in Cianna, they put everything in and you saw it in their faces, you saw how fast they were working, you saw how emotionally invested they were and today when I saw their faces, they also cried ... it was like a connection.

“I can't thank them enough ... it's incredible what they did for us.”

Maureen hugged some of those who helped save Cianna’s life. Picture: Isabella Magee. Picture: Isabella Magee

Feeling overwhelmed, Cianna, too, shed tears but knows how lucky she is to be alive.

“I think they said they brought me back to life about five times,” she said.

Cianna felt overwhelmed by the amount of people who cared for her but her recovery is going well. Picture: Isabella Magee

Wide Bay Hospital and Health Services Director of Medical Services Doctor Peter Stevenson said it “really took the full resources of the health service to keep her going”.

“It was a very long, few days for the family, she went into cardiac arrest on two occasions during her time here ... there were a significant number of staff involved ... and then to get her well enough to transfer her to Brisbane for ongoing care by the surgeons at Queensland Children’s Hospital,” Dr Stevenson said.

Wide Bay Hospital and Health Services Director of Medical Services Doctor Peter Stevenson is proud to work with such an amazing medical team. Picture: Isabella Magee

“I guess it’s a two way thing, it was for (Cianna) to come and meet the people who she wouldn’t have remembered and her family to give their thanks but also for our staff who felt this was a very traumatic experience, it was a very long day for them as well ... they did an amazing job, they came together as a team.

A significant number of health care staff from a range of departments worked together to save Cianna Brenia’s life. Picture: Isabella Magee

“I’ve worked in tertiary centres and other regional centres and I wouldn’t bet that many hospitals could have achieved what was achieved on that day with her recovery... she has a normal, healthy heart, so when her heart rate went down to 30, she was about to die and to get her back from that severity, that’s impressive.”

Picture: Isabella Magee