Tiffany Mitchell will soon have a quiet garden to sit in while her daughter Eva is in surgery thanks to the fundraising efforts of Diocesan School students.
Year 11 students who last year won a BP community enterprise award for their garden design have been working to implement it at Ronald McDonald House ever since they just need $40,000 to get it off the ground.
Zoe Dockery, 16, one of the four Year 11 Diocesan students who came up with the original garden project, said the girls were moved by their visits to families in the house, and decided they would work towards something that would make their stay more enjoyable a garden had been planned for some time but the charity lacked the funds to go ahead with it.
The Mitchell family, from Warkworth, spend a large part of the year living in Ronald McDonald House.
Mrs Mitchell said the prospect of a new garden is as exciting as the idea of improvements on their own house.
"Quite often when your kid's in surgery you need somewhere to just sit and be," she said.
Mrs Mitchell, husband Joel and 3-year-old daughter Mela moved into Ronald McDonald House Auckland so they could be closer to daughter Eva who was born in September 2007 with a diaphragmatic hernia this meant the left side of her diaphragm was not formed.
At birth she was rushed to the neo-natal intensive care unit where doctors inserted a tube into her airways as she was struggling to get enough oxygen.
Because she was born with only half a diaphragm there was nothing holding her vital organs in place. As a result, Eva's stomach was pushed up, putting pressure on her heart and lungs and she was unable to feed.
Her first five days were spent in a coma after she was moved to paediatric intensive care and her heart stopped.
She was placed on full life support for two weeks, during which time she suffered three strokes as the portal for the life support created a blood clot in her brain.
Eva was taken off the lung and heart bypass machine and transferred on to a general life support machine. Fortunately she began to stabilise.
Since then the family has spent 170 nights at Starship as Eva has undergone numerous operations and battled recurring bouts of pneumonia.
Her stomach is not able to function normally so she continues to be fed through a button in her stomach. She is on oxygen 24 hours a day and has three doses of medication daily.
As well as undergoing physiotherapy and occupational therapy every day she is seeing a speech and language therapist twice a week.
Despite all of this, Eva is developmentally on target for her age although her speech and fitness still need a little work due to her damaged lung tissue.
Looking ahead, doctors have told the family not to expect Eva to breathe on her own until she is at least 5 years old. She will continue to be fed through a tube until she puts on weight and builds up new lung tissue and gives her immune system a chance to strengthen.
Mrs Mitchell said Ronald McDonald House now feels more comfortable than their own home, as the family is surrounded by people who understand.
The garden will not only offer respite to parents but will give other children in families living in the house, such as Mela, an area to run around.
The Year 11 Diocesan students appealed to Year 12 students to help with the fundraising and a team of five girls have organised a gala day at Palmers Garden Centre in Remuera this Sunday.
Natalie Kirch, who spearheaded the fundraiser and spent her school holidays organising the day, said it had been a great experience.
The girls managed to raise $20,000 through a collection at the school and hope to raise the remainder on Sunday and through contributions to the website.
The girls kickstarted fundraising with $500 in prize money after gaining second place with their BP Community Enterprise Project which challenges students to come up with a capital project that benefits a non-profit community organisation.
Palmers Garden Centre has drawn up the final plans for the garden and will be leading the development, which Zoe Dockery hopes will start in spring.
www.rmhauckland.org.nz
