This time last year courageous Eva Mitchell was digging into her 16th birthday cake, dancing up a storm at her party and excitedly learning to drive.
Her mum Tiff McLeod couldn’t believe that the baby who doctors initially said wouldn’t make it past childhood had defied the odds. She was proof that miracles exist.
But just when things were going so well, Eva was recently hit hard by winter viruses, especially Influenza A, and was sick for weeks. It looked like the brave teen was finally improving. She had enough energy to go to the movies with her best friend Addi and enjoy her favourite snacks.
Then two days later, Eva was admitted to hospital, unable to stop violently throwing up. The family initially thought she had an obstruction. However, Eva was suffering from complete intestinal failure.
Since then, she hasn’t been able to eat and is relying on Total Parenteral Nutrition (TPN), a method of intravenous feeding through a vein that bypasses the gastrointestinal tract.
“It turned out her gut has completely shut down,” tells Tiff. “It’s no longer absorbing nutrients or working. Unfortunately, there is no surgical fix. I can’t even fathom it…having something that she fought (we all did) so hard for her to do being taken from her again.
“Four weeks later, she still vomits stomach bile all night; she’s been to theatre numerous times and she has cried so many tears for the life she had, that was just so rich and full. Although it will be again, in a different way, it hits hard.”
Tiff says it seems surreal that they face the reality of Eva needing TPN at home. “Retraining in TPN has been a shock to our system. It takes me back to years going through the same motions.”
Eva was born with a hole in her diaphragm, causing her organs to push up towards her heart and lung cavity, stopping the lungs from forming properly. Her diaphragmatic hernia was so large that the tiny tot was given only a 10 percent chance of survival.
For five years, as Eva grew up in Starship Hospital (she and her older sister Mela even learned to ride bikes in the long corridor between wards), she was TPN-dependent.
But over the years, following an illeostomy, numerous operations and medications, she could eat slowly for the first time, and began loving and relishing food. Needless to say, this new setback has been heartbreaking for the close-knit family.
Last month, CureKids ambassador Eva celebrated her 17th birthday from her hospital bed. It was a celebration Tiff, 40, and her husband Jason, 44, will “never take for granted”.
“Eva was determined to wear her birthday dress and to make the most of the day, even while vomiting and being where she didn’t want to be,” says her proud mum.
“We got her a ‘smash cake’, which of course, she couldn’t eat. However, it was good for a smashing de-stress and her siblings were into the lollies that came spilling out.”
Mela, who is almost 19, has been by her sister’s side the whole time, while younger siblings Cooper, eight, and Kenzie, three, have been delivering endless playdough burgers and piles of artwork to Eva.
Another birthday surprise included Eva receiving a video call from US actor Justin Baldoni, which was organised by family friend Jazz Thornton. (Two days before her gut failure, Eva had been watching Justin on the big screen playing charming neurosurgeon Ryle Kincaid in the movie It Ends with Us.)
Eva says the star talked to her for 45 minutes and wanted to know all about her life.
“He was super encouraging and kind,” she tells. “I also met his kids and wife on the call too. He said I should write a book, which is something we as a family dream of to help people know that hope is there every moment.”
Adds Tiff, “The kindness of his words and his genuine heart just blew her mind and meant the world to her.”
Now in Year 12, Eva hopes to take up nursing or become a nanny when she leaves school. Mela is studying for a Bachelor of Visual Arts, while Tiff has also gone back to university this year, working towards a BA, with a major in education.
Smiling, Tiff says, “We know, as Eva recovers, that building her back up is a long road, but she’ll be okay as she’s a trooper.”
Tiff has been sharing her brave daughter’s journey through detailed posts on their Instagram page @mcleod_fam_gram.
She says writing is therapeutic and helpful because someone out there is going through the same pain as Eva.
“There’s a mother holding her child’s hand just like me,” she explains. “I want them to know they are not alone and although I can’t change this for us right now, I hope they feel less pain. Our hearts ache alongside theirs.”