US doctors to carry out miracle surgery on baby Elie after 31 days in coma

AMERICAN doctors are expected to carry out the final part of a pioneering procedure this week on an Irish baby girl who has been in an induced coma for 31 days.

Toddler Elie Madden, who has a twin sister called Emie, was born with a rare disorder in which the oesophagus is too short and does not connect to the stomach.

Elie was put into the deep sleep state on December 2 to allow doctors to perform a miracle procedure to stimulate the growing of a new oesophagus.

The 14-month-old and her sister and her mum Esti were flown to America on the government jet at the end of November and were joined by their dad Eddie over Christmas.

Doctors at Boston Children’s Hospital are now preparing to carry out their fourth vital surgery, which will finally connect her oesophagus and stomach.

“Elie is four weeks in a coma. We miss her terribly”, said her Dad.

The little girl has already gone through three operations but it is hoped she will be back in the theatre for the final surgery this week.

“Doctors are hoping to join both ends of her oesophagus and we are hoping to see her wake up soon after that,” said her Dad in Elie’s blog.

“It is not going to be the end of our journey but it would be a wonderful step forward.”

Before the pioneering surgery, Mum Estie and Dad Eddie couldn’t leave their child’s side for a second as she could not eat or swallow and her airways constantly had to be cleared with the aid of two life-saving suction machines.

Her parents couldn’t hear their baby’s cries because of her condition although they knew she was upset when her eyes filled with tears.

When she was born by emergency Caesarean section along with twin Emie, she was diagnosed with severe tracheomalacia and oesphagal atresia and rushed for heart surgery when she was barely a day old.

The treatment in Boston is set to complete her oesophagus, which stops at the bottom of her throat and appears again in her stomach.

The groundbreaking medical procedure — called the Foker Process — is currently only available in America, and stimulates Mother Nature to grow a new oesophagus.

Although the €500,000 procedure has been funded by the HSE and the VHI, her parents have had to fund-raise for the cost of Esti living next to the hospital in America for at least three months.

* Anyone who wishes to help with the Operation Elie fund can do so via Ulster Bank, Account Number: 10961172, sort code: 98-60-45