Reeves, Candace

As Rob and I rushed to the hospital I'm sure we were thinking of how hard it would be when we came back home with a newborn. When Candace was born we had no idea how hard.

Candace was born with a right CDH. She was born by C-Section and right off the bat she wasn't breathing on her own. That's when they told us what was wrong. It was explained to us a total of a million times, but we were in a daze. Once she was in the children’s hospital things went from bad to worse.

For a week after the hernia surgery she was touch and go. Her lungs looked like a doily. The worst day of our lives came when they told us that she wouldn't live through the day unless they put Candace on ECMO. For two weeks she stayed on ECMO with no residuals.(unbelievable). This was the worst time I think out of everything. Gradually she got stronger and moved up to the ward room were we could actually stay in the room with her overnight. We had our ups and downs over the next 5 months but we eventually got home. This in itself is it's own turmoil, but it is so much nicer. Candace had a feeding tube about a year and a half ago but at three and a half is now eating what we are (a completely different struggle)and going to school. Her doctors are still amazed that this ECMO baby has made it this far. She is an amazing little cherub.


Written by Candace's parents, Rob and Leanne Reeves (Canada)
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