- Elie Madden.
Little Elie Madden is making progress in a Boston hospital but it has taken ten surgeries for what her father, Eddie, has described as "two major steps forward."
The year-old tot was flown to Boston from Dublin last October for treatment at Boston Children's Hospital for a rare medical condition that has made her first year of life about as difficult as one can imagine.
Elie's sister Emie is healthy. Elie, by contrast, faces complex treatment because her Oesophagus was not connected to her stomach at birth. The medical term for her rare condition is Tracheo-Oesophageal Fistula with Long Gap Oesophageal Atresia.
This means she cannot swallow and has been facing all manner of complications in her short life as a result. Elie, who was born premature, also suffered complications with her Aorta, but doctors in Ireland cured the problem.
Elie's dad, Eddie, is a Dublin native. Her mother, Esti, is Polish. The Maddens live in the Dublin suburb of Glasnevin.
The family has set up a website, www.elie madden.com, which explains Elie's condition, and what is needed for successful treatment.
Elie and Emie were born by emergency caesarean and Elie had to spend the first nine months of her life at Our Lady's Children's Hospital in Dublin.
She constantly has a tube in her throat to stop her trachea collapsing and is fed through a peg into her stomach. She regularly needs a ventilator to clear her airways, and has undergone a number of heart operations.
"Elie has had two major steps forward in the last two weeks, one being the trachea being totally removed. This was not supposed to happen too soon as we were going to downsize it a few times and eventually take it out," her father Eddie told the Echo Tuesday.
"Based on the last surgery, her 10th to date, doctors decided to remove it completely as it has done some damage with the previous operation. "We refused to put Elie back on paralytics as it had taken us nearly eight weeks to get her off of them. If we were to put her back on them it would have to be stronger as she is use to them. I guess you could say she is like an addict.
"So we had put her on minimal in order to wake her up quickly and extubate her with out the aid of a ventilator. Surprisingly, Elie did really well, but it was not without some complications," Eddie explained.
Secretions were something that was building up within her throat and she did not know how to cough. She would have to be suctioned and that was putting her into lots of stress. This is only one of the many things she has to learn," he said.
The Madden family has a website, www.elie madden.com, which explains Elie's condition, and what is needed for successful treatment.
