Hamish’s journey

Hi everyone,

I’m making this gofund me fundraiser to try and help out Ashlee and Josh with their upcoming medical and travel expenses, a message from Ash explaining what has been going on.

We were 16 days into the life of our newborn son when he fell ill all of a sudden and I had to take him to hospital.

Little did we know the journey we would be on from that night with our Hamish.

We were rushed from our local hospital in tumut to Wagga base , treated there through the night then flown by NETS to Canberra in the morning.

After 4 days of NICU care and being diagnosed with bacterial meningitis finding the entrovirus and ecoli bug through a lumber puncture , Hamish was well enough to come back to Wagga.

At this stage we were only expected to be staying 3 weeks for antibiotics.

We were in Wagga for 6 days when we had to be flown to Sydney with our son as he was having seizures.

He had to sedated and ventilated and flown to Sydney childrens hospital.

We found out Hamish had a Stroke and that’s what caused the seizures.

After a week in Sydney we were flown back to Wagga late so stayed on the ward with Hamish. Hamishs antibiotics we’re extended to 4 weeks antibiotics, then 5 weeks.

We thought all was good until 9 days after being home I knew there was something wrong just from his cry.

I presented to local hospital and was sent to Wagga base , where I was informed after some tests that they believed his meningitis was back.

I was distraught, shocked and absolutely heartbroken that my baby was so unwell again.

He had seizures again and had a code blue called on him as he was struggling to breath.

They had to again sedate and ventilate and fly us to Sydney childrens hospital.

We stayed 2 weeks this time and Hamish had to learn how to feed again from the beginning once he was taken off the ventilator after 4 days and tube fed for 9 days.

We were flown back to Wagga where we Continued antibiotics another 4 weeks. In that time it was discovered Hamish has markers for Cerebal palsy from his stroke.

Hamish had a repeat MRI and lumbar puncture 2 days before we were due to go home.

The MRI Sydney were a bit concerned about and some cells still showing in lumbar puncture so we were told Sydney just wanted to review Hamish before going home.

So The day before we were meant to go home we were flown back to Sydney childrens hospital- all to be told he actually has fluid on the brain from the meningitis as it’s a common complication. So I was informed that my baby needs a shunt on the brain and that they had to wait til infection was completely gone to do it.

We are currently on our 7th week in hospital this time round and still expect another week atleast before we go home.

Hamish has had a rough start to life but he’s just the most amazing baby and we can’t wait to go home to his older siblings and family. But at the moment it’s still hazy as to when that is.

Once home our journey doesn’t end , Hamish will have constant appointments in Wagga and Sydney and therapies for early intervention to make sure he has the best chance at everything in life.

He’s a fighter our Hamish and I know that he will defy the odds but not without obstacles x