Israeli parents seek financial support for surgery to save their infant
Four-month-old Ella Shalmon was born with a birth defect affecting her respiratory and digestive systems that can only be treated with a $430,000-surgery in Boston.
Four-month-old Ella Shalmon was born with a rare birth defect that connects her respiratory and digestive systems. Only a complicated surgery costing $430,000 in a pediatric hospital in Boston could save her life.
This was supposed to be a happy birth. Adi and Nadav Shalmon looked forward to their daughter joining their family. But the warning signs began to appear in the 32nd week of pregnancy when the ultrasound showed polyhydramnios, an excess of fluid in the amniotic sack.
The couple went to the Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital, where it was decided to hospitalize Adi to keep her under supervision. A few days later, her water broke. Adi was taken for a cesarean section, and daughter was born, weighing 1.55 kilograms.
From birth, the small Ella suffered from breathing difficulties. She was transferred to the NICU and put on a respirator. When medical staff tried to insert a "Zonda" catheter into her stomach, they ran into difficulty. They discovered that she suffers from defect connecting the esophagus to the respiratory system. The doctors explained that the rare defect requires immediate surgery.
"It was a huge shock," said Nadav, "I kept seeing in my mind the picture of a simple birth, when you take the baby home afterwards. I never imagined it would end in a lengthy hospitalization and in mortal danger."
Two days after the birth, Ella was taken to the operating room. The procedure took five hours, during which the connections between the esophagus to the trachea were severed. The operation was a success, and Ella was taken to intensive care.
But two and a half weeks later, Ella's situation began to deteriorate: She suffered from slowing heart rate and apnea to cyanosis. She was on a respirator and her condition stabilized, but since the situation deteriorated and she suffered repeated lung infections, kidney failure and apnea.
The doctors explained to parents that only a complex surgery, performed at Boston's pediatric hospital, which has accumulated extensive experience in handling this kind of defect, can save Ella's life.
"We are amazed how a baby so small can be optimistic," says Adi, "She has been through such difficult things in the first four months of her life, and yet she conveys to us daily her instinct to survive, and she shows us how she wants to live. We tell her, 'Breathe, everything will be fine,' and gradually, she raises her heart rate and goes back to breathing, as if she's listening to us and says, 'I want to live; don't give up on me.'"
The couple contacted the Kav Lachayim charity, which agreed to help raise the necessary funds. So far $63,000 has been donated.
Donations may be made online via credit card or PayPal
Via check to Kay Lachayim for Ella Shalmon, Gonen 15, Petah Tikva, Israel
By wire transfer: IBAN: IL60-0125-3200-0000-0575-245
SWIFT: POALILIT
Via telephone: +972-3-9250505
