January 21, 2023 8.00 am This story is over 15 months old

Lincolnshire’s ‘miracle girl’ given 10% chance of survival can now live ‘normal life’

“She’s a real incredible little girl”

A “real incredible little girl” from Lincolnshire who was given a 10% chance of survival at birth can ‘have a normal life now’.

Ella-Grace was born weighing 7lb 11oz and with Tetralogy of Fallot with absent pulmonary valve and a large hole in the heart, but at 12 weeks old she suffered a respiratory arrest and then a cardiac arrest.

She had her surgery at 16 weeks old and went home for a couple of weeks, but she then took a turn for the worse and and needed mouth-to-mouth and chest compressions before an ambulance arrived.

Last Saturday Ella-Grace arrived at hospital with a tracheotomy and was able to pull her own tube out with doctors present. Three days later she was able to go home with just a padding over her neck.

Ella-Grace’s mum Andrea told BBC Look North: “Experiencing Ella, her life has been nothing more than a rollercoaster. It’s been hard, but it’s been worth it looking at her now, absolutely.

“There’s just that very surreal moment that hits you that thinks ‘we can have a normal life now’.”

‘Miracle girl’ Ella-Grace. | Screenshot: BBC Look North

She added: “You think you know it all when you get to a certain age and then along comes this tiny little seven pound 11 baby and she teaches you far more than you would ever have thought was possible, so yeah, she is nothing more than a miracle.”

Kelly Matthews is Ella-Grace’s teacher at St Sebastian’s C of E Primary School in Great Gonerby, Grantham, and she said: “I think she’s blown us all away really as we weren’t sure what to expect when she started school in September, but she is just fantastic. She’s a real incredible little girl.”

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