Mae Leatherbarrow has faced more in her first three-months of life than many people ever will - five brain operations.
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In August she was born almost four-weeks premature before it was discovered she had a brain bleed and had to be rushed to the Royal Hobart Hospital.
She underwent her first operation at nine-days-old and spent five weeks in the RHH's neonatal intensive care unit.
A shunt was inserted into her brain to allow fluid to be removed, using a piece of tubing under the skin to redirect it into the abdomen.
The Leatherbarrow family are based in Launceston and it forced parents Danika and Shaun to relocate temporarily to the state's capital to be with Mae. It also meant they were separated from their four-year-old and three-year-old sons, only seeing them sporadically.
Mother Danika Leatherbarrow said about 24-hours after Mae was born doctors realised something was wrong.
"It has been awful, because you never ever want to see your child in the hospital for any reason, let alone for all of the procedures and surgery that Mae has had to undergo," she said.
"The bleeding caused some brain damage, but she's too little at the moment for us to fully comprehend what that damage is. So all we know is that it could affect her left field of vision ... and may have caused some issues with her quality of movement in her hands and legs."
In other news:
After returning home for five weeks, Mae had to be readmitted to the RHH again as her shunt wound was compromised and she had developed an infection.
This time she has been in the RHH for three weeks so far and has had three operations since her second admittance.
A GoFundMe page has been set up to help the family financially with the costs of staying in Hobart and for future treatment costs. They spent some weeks in the Ronald McDonald House and others in Airbnbs in order to be with their sons.
So far it has raised more than $6600.
Mrs Leatherbarrow praised the work RHH NICU staff do. She said they were absolutely incredible and she not could speaker higher of the RMH either.
"I think the second time in hospital has been a bit harder on [the boys] because they miss Mae, they want their sister home. It's hard to explain to a four-year-old and a three-year-old that their sister has been critically ill and that's why we've had to be away from them for so long," she said.
"[My cousin] asked if it was okay to set up the fundraiser and I thought you know what, if we just get a couple of grand to cover the accommodation this trip, I would be forever grateful, but it's sitting at more than we ever thought that we would get.
"Shaun and I are just blown away by the support we've received, it's incredibly humbling, like the financial support yes, but friends looking after our boys and loving them while we're not near them and people reaching out. It's just been amazing and it's not until you're in a situation like this, where you realise how important those relationships are."
Mae is recovering well from her latest surgery, but will have to wait until doctors are certain she has fully recovered before she is back home with her brothers.
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Isobel Cootes
Sports reporter at The Canberra Times. A Novocastrian with a passion for football (or soccer as they call it in the capital) via The Examiner and The Port Lincoln Times.
Sports reporter at The Canberra Times. A Novocastrian with a passion for football (or soccer as they call it in the capital) via The Examiner and The Port Lincoln Times.
