june 12 - 18 | 2013
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Community heart www.wangarattachronicle.com.au
circulating in wangaratta, myrtleford, bright, mt beauty, beechworth, yackandandah, rutherglen, chiltern and districts
By KYLIE WILSON
HAPPY TIMES:
Shane Hack and Lisa Dekeling with their son Eli. PHOTO: Kylie Wilson (INSET BELOW)
BRAVE BOY:
Eli being treated in hospital as an infant.
GARDENING WITH
DEBBI
RSPCA
WITH
SHADOW
FILM THE
INTERNSHIP
WINE TALK WITH
ANITA
ELI Hack’s effervescent smile and unrelenting energy mask the fact the Wangaratta toddler, who turns two this week, has already had two open heart surgeries. He was born with a serious heart condition. A routine 18 week pregnancy ultrasound scan revealed his tiny heart had one central trunk instead of the usual two major arteries, and he had a large hole between the chambers of his heart and was missing his pulmonary heart valve. While Eli defied his diagnosis by entering the world as a “pink and screaming eight pound baby”, his mother Lisa Dekeling said his early months were an anxious time. Before having open heart surgery at three months old, Eli was allowed home to get bigger and stronger, and Lisa, husband Shane Hack, and the entire family was on tenterhooks. “It was a very anxious time as we had to be on the constant lookout for signs of heart failure,” she said. “A respiratory illness could have had a devastating effect on him, and dehydration through gastro was equally as dangerous. “To add to the anxiety, we had three older children attending three different schools, it was winter, and the chances of picking up an illness were great.” But two surgeries later, Eli now thrives. continued page |
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