It breaks my heart that my best friends Erin and Andrew are going through the hardest times of their lives. Their beautiful 22yo daughter is fighting for her life at RPAH.

Maddie is bright, bubbly and lights up any room she walks into. She just finished her nursing degree and moved home and was about to start her undergraduate year at Orange Health Service.

Then tragedy struck……….

The week before Australia Day Maddie had what could only be described as a debilitating migraine which seemed to be improving towards the end of the week.

On Saturday 24th January at 7:39am Erin went in to wake Maddie for work and then went back in at 8:30am to give her a second wake up call and Maddie didn’t respond. An ambulance was called and Maddie was taken to Bathurst Hospital.

Erin and Andrew followed closely behind and when they were taken through they were told Maddie had suffered a seizure whilst in emergency. She was intubated, sedated and admitted to ICU to be taken care of by the lovely team there.

After a couple of days in ICU at Bathurst, with no improvement, it was decided that Maddie needed to be transferred to RPA hospital. Thankfully the lovely Dr Clive from RPA was on at BBH that weekend and he made a few phone calls and arrangements were swiftly made and Maddie was transferred via helicopter on Australia Day afternoon.

Erin and Andrew packed up a few things and headed down to Sydney. When they arrived they were greeted by the lovely RPA ICU team. Maddie was all set up in her new bed and made comfortable.

Maddie had and MRI and lumbar puncture which all come back negative for anything. Unfortunately over the next couple days Maddie’s seizures increased and became more frequent and intense (which was quite distressing to see) and it was decided to put Maddie on multiple epileptic medications and increase her sedation substantially to allow her brain time to rest.

Maddie has now been heavily sedated for 2 weeks and whilst we cannot see any seizure activity on the monitor we cannot not know for certain they have stopped.

Erin and Andrew have had meetings with many doctors and although it cannot be confirmed Maddie is being treated for Autoimmune Encephalitis. Which in laymen’s terms mean that Maddie’s immune system is attacking her brain and cause swelling (although her MRI does not show this). They are told that Maddie is in a marathon not a sprint and her recovery will be extensive and long. It could be weeks before Maddie even wakes up and even longer before she will leave hospital and Erin and Andrew want be by her side the whole time.

This means that they have both had to take extended leave from their jobs and use up all leave they have. Not only that there will be the cost of Maddies’ rehabilitation, which is unknown what that will involve.

If you’re able to spare any amount to donate any help would be greatly appreciated and allow Erin and Andrew to concentrate on Maddie and her recovery.