A FAMILY have told of the “phenomenal” recovery their daughter has made after twice defying doctors who feared she had just hours to live.
Six-month-old Tiffany Thornton was diagnosed with meningitis and an infection which caused a build up of fluid on her brain - news which rocked her parents who quickly had to seek urgent help.
Tiffany’s resilience to treatment has amazed her doting parents and doctors, but lasting impacts including never gaining head control are likely.
“Her diagnosis is not like anything anybody has ever seen before and for her to make it to six months is just phenomenal,” said dad Spencer, 27.
The newborn’s parents Spencer and Tasha, 25, of Firthmoor, Darlington, celebrated her birth in March after a smooth pregnancy and labour.
However, doctors began to notice Tiffany’s development in the first four weeks was unique when she hadn’t been gaining weight. And it was only when she was rushed to Darlington Memorial Hospital and immediately put on oxygen at just before seven weeks when the alarm bells started ringing.
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A CT scan revealed she had a potentially fatal case of hydrocephalus due to Group B strep infection, which led to meningitis.
The pressure of the hydrocephalus caused some of her brain cells to die and she underwent surgery to have a double VP shunt placed in her brain and had various cysts drained, however some of the cysts reformed.
Tiffany was then transferred to the RVI in Newcastle and was placed on a ventilator in the intensive care unit.
Tasha said: “After about two weeks the decision was made to take her off the ventilator and they they wouldn’t be putting her back on it even if she wasn’t breathing.”
Spencer and Tasha along with sons Tom and Spencer had come to terms with their inevitable loss but, to their amazement, Tiffany continued breathing.
Yet just weeks later Tiffany’s parents were told the devastating news on June 11 that her condition had worsened and she had just days left to live due to rapidly growing cysts on her brain.
But, more than three months later, she continues to fight the disease with her determined parents.
Tasha added: “What happened to Tiffany we can’t change but for it to happen to a mother-of-three who hasn’t even heard of Group B strep before it’s devastating.”
The family are fundraising for travelling costs to Newcastle and to help buy equipment and have so far raised more than £2,000.
“She still has a few issues including needing the NG tube as she is unable to swallow properly,” Spencer said.
“Also at the age of six-months-old she still has little to no head control, meaning she is unable to move or hold her own head or able to sit up.
“She is just one of a kind, she’s such a special little girl.”
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