Our Heart warrior

Hi I’m Lauren Elles auntie just writing to explain about my brave nieces story…

After a catheter procedure on the 9th of January little Elles journey got much harder. It was found Elle had developed Endocarditis, an infection in the heart.

Elle age 5 was antenatally diagnosed with congenital heart disease when mum Sophie was just 20 weeks pregnant. She was diagnosed with double outlet right ventricle, pulmonary atresia and a vsd. Her care was to be all in Leeds LGI. She had many procedures from birth suffering complications along the way, such as a stroke at just 5 weeks old and seizures post op. Finally she had her full repair done at 10 months old and the pulmonary artery was removed and replaced with a conduit. Finally life for Elle and the family could begin and they could enjoy their little girl.

Last year Elle began showing symptoms that her conduit wasn’t working as it had before. She was breathless, weak and would turn blue around her mouth. In November 2022 they were told that the conduit had severely narrowed and she would require surgery. January 9th 2023 she went to the catheter lab for a diagnosis procedure and they managed to stent it to control the narrowing. However after discharge Elles symptoms became dramatically worse. After being admitted to Sheffield children’s they began tests to find what was causing her symptoms and after an echo they found what the family had always feared. There were secretions on the valve of the conduit Elle had developed endocarditis an infection in the heart. She was transferred back to Leeds where she began her treatment. After starting intense Iv Antibiotics the team had a meeting to discuss Elles case, this is where it was decided that they needed to remove the source of infection as they couldn’t risk any secretions breaking off and attaching to other organs within her body. Elle was taken for open heart surgery for the 3rd time to replace the conduit. This was a success.

Elle now still faces a very long recovery. She needs Iv antibiotics for at least 6-12 weeks. The infection has spread to her lungs it is yet unknown if the antibiotics will clear this. Her left lung collapsed and has fluid to add to her recovery. With the family living in Sheffield and Elle being in Leeds as you can imagine this is a very tough time. Elle recently became a big sister and at home she has a 12 week old brother who is having to be cared for by kind friends and family whilst mum Sophie try’s to split herself between her children, any parents nightmare.

We would like to raise funds to help the family take Elle when she is discharged to her dream to meet the Disney princesses in Paris for being the brave heart warrior that she is.

Please donate to help ❤️ Thank you