A mum's "world came crashing down" when she was told her daughter may not live to see her sixth birthday.
Evita Bolmane, from Skelmserdale, was 24 weeks pregnant when doctors said her unborn child had a rare defect known as Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome and she only had a 5% chance of living beyond the age of five. The condition affects normal blood flow through the heart and means that as the baby develops during pregnancy, the left side of the heart does not form correctly, Lancs Live reports.
Evita and her husband Zigmunds Bolmanis, 29, faced the devastating decision of either terminating her pregnancy, letting their baby be born and die, or allowing her to be born and face gruelling surgery to survive. Evita said: "I just broke down. I couldn’t even talk. I was scared. Your world just comes crashing down and there’s nothing you can do. All you can do is hope.”
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Undeterred, the couple, originally from Latvia, chose to continue and their daughter Gabriela, now 21 months old, was transferred to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital three hours after her birth and underwent her first open-heart surgery at just six days old. This ordeal was followed by emergency surgery in December 2020 when Gabriela was just five months old, and a third operation at nine months old to have a stent fitted in her artery.
Evita, also mum to Gabriela’s two older brothers, Raivis, 10, and Oskars, eight, said: “In December 2020, she had a CT scan which showed how her oxygen levels were dropping and they had to rush her up to put her heart on oxygen support. She had emergency surgery lasting ten hours on December 29, and started bleeding profusely.
“The surgeons at Alder Hey were amazing;. They just did what they could and it lasted ten hours. Thankfully, she pulled through.”
Evita said: “Because of her low oxygen levels, when she crawls, she gets out of breath and her lips, hands and cheeks turn blue.
"And there are lots of side effects from the medication. She has long, beautiful hair but she is losing it all the time because of the medication. But she is literally amazing. She never stops smiling. She always laughs and she knows every single person around here.
"The only place she never smiles is in the hospital, possibly because she remembers everything that has kept happening there. But when we go to playgroups and shops, she is smiling and she loves giving hugs and sending kisses.”
Evita and Zigmunds are keen to raise awareness of Gabriela’s condition and raise money for Alder Hey Children’s Charity.
Evita said: “It’s horrible - it’s just a horrible condition and there’s nothing you can do. We just have to take it day by day, but you never know. Some days I sit down and cry, as our world can come crashing down in one single day."
The next steps will see Gabriela, who is on medication and palliative care for life, returning to Alder Hey in June for monitoring and scans, along with visits from a community nurse, and the third part of her three-stage surgery will take place when she turns three next year.
Evita added: “We have lots of support from family and friends and charities like Tiny Tickers, Little Hearts Matter and the British Heart Foundation. Gabriela keeps enjoying everything because she knows how life is difficult and how short it can be. We are so incredibly grateful to this country, and to the staff in the hospitals and the NHS, as they did everything to keep us happy and settled.
“We didn't know anything about CHD(Congenital heart defects) until we found out about Gaby's and it’s important for us to spread awareness. These babies are miracles and true warriors. Like we always say about Gabriela - she has half a heart, not half a life.”
The family is set to take part in a 3km charity walk, ‘Oli’s Safari Walk’, to raise money for Alder Hey Children’s Charity. It starts at 10am at Knowsley Safari Park on May 15. For further details about the event, click here, and to view the fundraising page, click here.
