MIRACULOUS
By Julie Waters
A NEWTOWNARDS toddler who seven months ago was given just 45 minutes to live, is preparing to take part in a sponsored walk.
The recovery of little Alex Chambers has been described as ‘miraculous’ as she fought back from a medically induced coma and three month hospital stay to ‘knocking a lot of her goals out of the park’.
Her parents, Nadine and Ryan Chambers, have gone from agonising bedside vigils to watching their beloved daughter beginning to breathe on her own, talking and laughing, sitting up unsupported and crawling.
And now little Alex is planning her latest challenge by walking five miles throughout the month of August to raise vital funds for the charity Helping Hand.
Mum Nadine said the charity is ‘extremely close to our hearts’ as their practical support meant ‘we were able to stay each night with Alex at the hospital so she was never alone’.
Providing beds, showers and cooking facilities, the charity at the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children supports the needs of children and their families as well as funding research into children’s illnesses.
The local family has already raised over £2,094 thanks to their Just Giving Page and are looking forward to not only increasing their charity total but giving hope to those people facing the most difficult of times.
Recalling her darkest hour Nadine said: “We were told to pray for a miracle and sometimes miracles do happen. Everyone in the hospital called Alex their little miracle, nobody expected her to come round.
“Sometimes you are told something is impossible but it’s not. If Alex can do this as a two year-old we hope her story will bring something to someone who is going through a bad time or has received bad news – the outcome is not always what is expected.”
She spoke of living ‘minute by minute’ after Alex fell perilously unwell. “Alex was a happy, healthy 18 months old, she met every milestone, she was a happy wee baby.
“On the morning of Friday, December 8, 2023, I found her unresponsive and phoned an ambulance. When we went to the Ulster Hospital there were 26 medical people waiting for her.
When Nadine and Ryan were in the Accident and Emergency department they were told Alex may have just 45 minutes to live.
“A specialist team from the Royal came down and we still had no idea what was going on – it was minute by minute.”
Said Nadine: “They were able to get her stable enough to transfer her to the Royal but a CT scan showed she had a massive brain bleed and they had no idea what caused it.
“We were told she had to have surgery or we were going to lose her. She had a drain fitted in her head and we had no idea what the outcome would be.”
Following her surgery, Alex was transferred to intensive care.
“She was in a coma for almost a week,” said Nadine. “When they tried to bring her out of the coma she seized for 45 minutes on the first attempt. On the second attempt she came round. She had been for quite a few scans but they weren’t clear what had happened.”
After her transfer to the children’s neurological ward, little Alex began her remarkable recovery journey over the coming months.
“It was just before Christmas that she smiled,” said Nadine. “And then around Christmas time she was responding to voices and music, she loves music.
“Then she was able to do a small amount of actions, she was able to clap her hands. She went from not being able to swallow to being taken off the feeding tube. She hadn’t been able to move at all, she had been completely paralysed, but thanks to the team of occupational therapists, speech and language therapists and physiotherapists she was able to sit up independently.”
After three months in hospital, Alex was finally able to return home with her parents. The following month the family received positive news after Alex underwent a number of further scans.
“In April we got the diagnosis that there had been a malfunction in one of the vessels (in her brain),” said Nadine They think the vessel had exploded but thankfully it clotted really quickly. The amount of scans she has had and the amount of specialists that had studied them and they think the rest of the vessels are looking okay.”
Following the brain haemorrhage, little Alex uses a walker as she embraces life.
Said Nadine: “At one point when we were in Accident and Emergency we were told Alex had 45 minutes to live. Eight months down the line and she is loving life.”
“She is just such a happy, happy baby, so resilient, everyone has said they have never seen a child so determined to get up. When they brought out her little zimmer walking frame, she said ‘up’. She is doing amazingly.”
To make a donation to Alex’s charity challenge visit her Just Give Page: