Miracle baby Harvey Ashman finally back home after 306 days in hospital, 10 surgeries

Miracle baby Harvey has finally returned home after spending almost his entire first year in hospital.

His name means “battle warrior” and little Harvey Ashman is exactly that, conquering 306 days in hospital with 10 major surgeries, pneumonia, Covid and meningitis all before turning one.

Harvey’s journey was rocky from the beginning with mum Nicole Brownlie and dad Peter Ashman told at 16 weeks their unborn baby would have a 40 per cent chance of survival due to lack of fluid.

Then, at just over 21 weeks, Ms Brownlie’s waters broke, but little Harvey stayed put for another two months before being born 11 weeks premature.

“We knew there was a risk of him being premature, but we didn’t know when. We were told the odds of his survival were low and if he did survive, his lungs might be in such bad shape that he’d never be able to play sports,” Ms Brownlie said.

“It was pretty rough and definitely uncertain.”

When he was born his lungs still weren’t working to full capacity, but there were bigger issues at play as he was born with oesophageal atresia and tracheo-oesophageal fistula, meaning he required immediate surgery to repair his oesophagus.

Parents Nicole and Peter Ashman with miracle baby Harvey and son Freddie, 3. Picture: Nigel Hallett

“He was in very bad shape, when he was born we were told that we could put him in palliative care or he could have a surgery which he was very unlikely to survive,” she said.

Harvey had the surgery on day one to disconnect his abnormal oesophagus connection, and then surgery again in June to make a connection between mouth and stomach.

In between that however, Harvey was also born with a severe brain bleed due to being born premature, which required a shunt to remove the build-up of fluid.

Following his shunt surgery, he needed four revisions, the last of which was due to Harvey falling ill with meningitis, which was then followed by him catching Covid and also requiring an unexpected bowel surgery.

After his final shunt surgery on June 23, Harvey was finally able to get his oesophagus repair surgery done, before he spent a month in the ICU where he fell ill with pneumonia before recovering and being allowed back in the ward for another couple of weeks.

Harvey Ashman. Picture: Facebook/Children's Health Queensland

“We were in the hospital for 306 days. We were at the Mater for just shy of five months, and we were at Queensland Children’s Hospital for 160 days,” Ms Brownlie said.

After months of setbacks and extensions of their hospital stay, when they finally got the nod to head home, it felt impossible to believe, according to Mr Ashman.

“We were obviously looking forward to coming home, but we were really quite nervous and scared about what life would look like once we lost all that immediate medical support that surrounded us for nearly a year,” he said.

“It was overwhelming and honestly I didn’t get excited until probably 90 minutes before we walked out the door. It was just too big to process.”

Leading paediatrician on Harvey’s case, Dr Vishal Kapoor from Queensland Children’s Hospital, said Harvey’s outcome was everyone’s achievement from the parents, to the multi-disciplinary team including specialists, nurses and allied health staff to Harvey himself.

Mum Nicole Ashman and Harvey. Picture: Nigel Hallett

“Children often surprise us. He will continue to require special assistance, but in my view he’s had a very good outcome given his challenges,” he said.

“His smile and interaction with everyone who meets him is very encouraging.”

The family has now been home for just over two weeks as they’ve worked to adjust to Harvey’s routine.

But for Ms Brownlie, every challenge has been worth it to have their family of four finally together after almost a year of separation and to give Harvey the best chance at life.

“When we were coming up with his name it was really important to me that he had a name that reflected our journey and his strength. Harvey translated means ready for battle or battle warrior, and the whole time I’ve said he’s our little battle warrior,” she said.

“He’s just the most happy, placid, smiley, gorgeous little thing. He was meant to be here. He’s just lived up to his battle warrior name from the very start. He’s the most amazing person I’ve ever met. I guess I’m just exceptionally lucky that he’s a part of our family.”