Good Friday Appeal 2017: Family puts faith in Royal Children’s Hospital
WHEN Scarlett Dickson, 4, faced the latest of her four open heart surgeries, her doctors faced some tough questioning — from her big brother, Campbell.
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WHEN Scarlett Dickson, 4, faced the latest of her four open heart surgeries last week, her doctors faced some tough questioning — from her big brother, Campbell.
How, the eight-year-old wanted to know, could they go inside his baby sister’s heart, and she could still be OK?
How, he asked, could they make sure she survived?
Once you realise those operations require doctors to stop Scarlett’s heart, Campbell’s questions become more than understandable.
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And the faith this Werribee family places in the Royal Children’s Hospital, time and again, becomes evident when you realise that these lifesaving operations are performed on an organ the size of a walnut, by surgeons wearing magnifying glasses.
“We’ve had to trust and hope for a miracle every time,” mum Sasha Dickson said.
A 20-week ultrasound had revealed a problem with Scarlett’s main artery. Many families end the pregnancy there.
But that week Ms Dickson and her husband, Dale, had learned their new baby was a girl, and this mother of two boys had already begun daydreaming about the dancing concerts and tea parties they would share.
And that week, for the first time, Mr Dickson had felt Scarlett kick.
“That’s when we knew we had a fighter, and we have to give her a chance,” Ms Dickson said.
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Just two hours after her birth, Scarlett was transferred to the RCH. And on just her sixth day, cardiac surgeon Associate Professor Christian Brizard repaired the aortic arch and mitral valve.
But the valve kept leaking. By the time of her third open heart surgery, doctors had run out of options; another such attempt was too risky.
Previously, if a newborn’s valve could not be repaired, surgeons had no way to sustain life long enough for the baby to grow to a point where a mechanical replacement valve could be implanted.
So Prof Brizard had to think outside the square; and at four months old Scarlett became the first patient to have a mitral valve made from a cow’s jugular vein.
And nine days ago, having grown enough, she received a replacement mechanical valve, which will have to be replaced when her heart reaches its full adult size.
Meantime, the Dickson family takes comfort in the small acts of kindness by RCH staff, such as the time when Scarlett couldn’t be soothed and a burly male nurse spent the night brushing her hair.
And they treasure a photo of a newborn Scarlett, which a nurse sent to Sasha as she lay stranded in the maternity hospital.
“The lengths they’ve gone to for one little girl are unbelievable. I now just want her to lead a life where she doesn’t feel restricted,” Ms Dickson said.
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