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Maia and her besties are going to take part in this years RBC Race for the Kids! Together they will take on the 5K challenge at Maia's pace. From now until then we are organising a number of fundraising activities to raise as much as we can for this amazing charity!

And this is why...

Maia's Story

Maia was born in November 2014 at six weeks premature and weighing just 3lb 1oz. She spent the next few weeks growing and getting stronger in the family’s local special care baby unit at Hitchingbrooke Hospital in Cambridgeshire. During her time there doctors discovered Maia had holes in her heart. Due to Maia’s condition she had to be tube fed to help build up her strength.

Once she was well enough to leave Maia was transferred to Great Ormond Street Hospital in January 2015, where doctors performed an interim heart surgery to help Maia with her breathing as well as her growth. As the preparation for the operation was beginning, doctors at GOSH discovered that Maia also had a rare condition called long segment tracheal stenosis (narrowing of the trachea which provides air to and from the lungs).

A few days’ later surgeons performed a slide tracheoplasty, a pioneering surgery technique which shortens the trachea but makes it stronger, a technique developed at Great Ormond Street Hospital to widen the trachea and helps children to breathe.

Maia was then transferred to the hospital’s Cardiac Intensive Care Unit until where she was put on to a ventilator until she stabilised and went up to the Bear ward. After six weeks in hospital Maia was transferred to Hinchingbrooke Hospital until she was strong enough to leave to go home. Although it was hard for the family, Meera said: “the care Maia received both at Hitchingbrooke and GOSH was fantastic. All the staff and volunteers at GOSH are so caring and so personable. They kept us in the loop at all times about how Maia was doing and what the next steps would be. Where in the world would you get care like this, we are so lucky in this country to have a place like GOSH to provide the care we needed for Maia.”

Five months later Maia returned to GOSH for more surgery, this time surgeons repaired the holes in her heart. After a further few weeks in hospital Maia recovered and was able to return home. Maia’s mum Meera said: “the surgery changed Maia’s life and she was able to come off the tube feeding and started eating solid foods which she loved!” Meera wanted to thank staff specifically for her care saying “Our consultant always exp

How is Maia doing now?

Maia has regular check-ups, scans and echocardiograms on her heart, and at the moment she is doing really well. Her doctors from Great Ormond Street Hospital come up to our local hospital for this so she is still under the care of GOSH but it means we don’t have to travel down to London as often which is good. The care she receives is brilliant.

Maia is a really enthusiastic and happy little girl, if something is fun she will throw herself into it and have a go, and she loves dancing, Brownies, swimming and Pokemon! The fact that she can do all these activities, shows how well she is doing. We didn’t know whether her tracheal condition might cause her breathing difficulties that would make it too dangerous for her to swim. But she loves it! She’s confident underwater, and it’s just brilliant to see her enjoying herself.

Maia loves her younger brother Kyan, he’s 7 years old, she loves being his big sister! She’s very caring and likes looking after him.

:)

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