What was initially thought to be a simple respiratory virus became a fight for Wahgunyah two-year-old Arianah Murphy’s life but then came an unlikely superhero team to the rescue.
Arianah’s parents firmly believing that the Royal Children’s Hospital staff are much more than mere medics, in fact they are superheroes.
It has been almost a year since Braith and Karah Murphy’s children became unwell with what was, at first, a simple daycare virus.
When the children failed to recover as expected, local doctors diagnosed them both with Respiratory Syncytial Virus, a common childhood illness that largely affects children under two years of age.
Whilst Arianah’s ten-month-old brother did eventually recover after a short period in hospital to receive fluids for dehydration, Arianah became increasingly ill with her father taking her to the Emergency Department at Wangaratta Hospital when she began vomiting profusely.
“They did blood work right away when Braith took her in and within an hour of receiving the results we were rushed by the MICA team to the airport and flown to the Royal Children’s,” mum, Karah Murphy said.
“I’m a nurse myself but I was in shock and couldn’t really comprehend what was happening.”
Clearly a memory that still evokes intense emotions for the family, Karah explained that Arianah’s left lung was not functioning at all and that she had become septic.
“There was fluid in her chest cavity surrounding her lungs so she was put straight in the ICU and sedated so that the doctors could put a plural tap in to drain it,” she recalls.
“Everybody still thought it was the RSV but then she developed a rash that, though common, was different to what you would normally see with the virus.
“I will never forget the ICU doctor who realised immediately when he saw Arianah that she actually had an invasive Group A Strep illness.
“He is really the one who saved her life.”
Treated with aggressive antibiotic therapy, Arianah began to get better and was able to return to Wangaratta to continue her treatment but, her follow up x-ray showed a much greater concern that saw the family return to Melbourne where Arianah would spend weeks in the children’s cardiology ward.
“Her x-ray showed that she had fluid around her heart,” Karah said,
“This couldn’t be treated like the lungs and she had to have surgery.”
It has been a long and gruelling road to recovery for little Arianah and her family with the now three-year-old having to learn to walk again and multiple, regular visits to the hospital to ensure that there were no further problems.
Four weeks ago, the little fighter was given the all-clear.
“They are superheroes,” Braith Murphy said of the staff at the Royal Children’s Hospital.
“I never really got it until we needed them ourselves. I used to stick $5 in a tin on Good Friday but now that I know where that money goes and what it does, well, I wish I had given more.”
“We feel so safe in their care,” said Karah.
“We would put our children’s lives in their hands over and over again if we had to.
“They are equipped for anything and everything and have over one thousand presentations through their emergency department alone each month.
“Government funding can’t cover all of that which is why the Good Friday Appeal is so important.”
Having bought shirts for the kids, the family will be walking with the fire truck crews on Good Friday and have already begun their own fundraising initiatives to ensure that theirs, and other families in the area will always have the services of the RCH if they are needed.
“The RCH are incredible. I could not fault a single thing about the doctors, staff or the hospital. Arianah wouldn’t be here without them,” Karah said.