Stuff co.nz 5 August 2020
A year ago, Olivia Clark didn’t think she would get to celebrate another Christmas or birthday with her young daughter.
Four-year-old Luna was born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, meaning the left side of her heart is missing.
After four open-heart surgeries, the first of which Luna had at just two days old, fluid in her body refused to drain and doctors said they weren’t confident she would survive another surgery.
In August 2019, the Clark family took Luna home after about five months in Auckland’s Starship Children’s Hospital.
They had decided her quality of life was more important, and they wanted to give her all the experiences she wanted.
Luna’s team of doctors said her family may have just four weeks with her if the fluid continued at the rate it was filling up.
But a year later, her mum says Luna is “absolutely thriving”.
“They can’t really explain it, we can’t explain it, it’s just … she’s just not ready to go.”
READ MORE: https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/122341930/auckland-4yearold-thriving-a-year-after-being-given-just-weeks-to-live
