A young girl from Co Down who went into cardiac arrest when she was one-year-old is defying all of the odds as she hits critical milestones after being told she would be significantly brain damaged for life.
For more than a year after Callie McKinney was born, she had been living a normal and healthy life like most other baby girls her age when suddenly she was fighting for her life in hospital after going into cardiac arrest.
Her worried parents were terrified for her future as doctors told them that she may not last the next 24 to 48 hours and had suffered significant brain damage. Over the next few months they would be told this time and time again as Callie received treatment in intensive care, however her parents refused to give up on her, with the young girl's resilience shining through as her finally being able to make it home from hospital after more than six months.
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Callie is the only person in the UK to be diagnosed with a rare genetic condition called PPA2 that impacts her heart and leaves her at risk of sudden cardiac arrest. As a result she has had a defibrillator surgically implanted so that it can be used instantly if she has another problem with her heart.
Speaking to Belfast Live, her mum Caitlin Turner said that despite everything that her daughter has been through at such a young age, she has defied all of the odds against her and is now reaching critical milestones that doctors told her she may never achieve.
Caitlin said: "For the first year of her life Callie was a healthy and happy baby girl and we never imagined the difficulties that she would face. Then when she went into cardiac arrest it felt like our whole world turned upside down as doctors told us to expect the worst from the very beginning.
"Over the next few months while she was in intensive care we were constantly told by doctors that she would not make it through the next 24 or 48 hours, but she kept proving them wrong time and time again.
"We were told that Callie would be severely brain damaged as a result of what she went through and would essentially have no quality of life going forward, but the resilience that she has shown is nothing short of a miracle as now she laughing, sitting up, eating and learning to walk and finally getting back to the normal life that she used to have.
"Callie is the only person in the UK who is currently diagnosed with a very rare genetic condition called PPA2, which will leave her at risk for the rest of her life, especially if she consumes any sort of alcohol. She is also at risk if she ever gets sick and even having the slightest temperature can be very dangerous for her.
"This is something that we will have to manage for the rest of her life and we are thankful to the doctor who went the extra mile to have a genetic test done on her so that we are able to understand what Callie has. We were told that if Callie hadn't survived her cardiac arrest doctors would have put it down to sudden infant death syndrome.
"Due to the rarity of the condition there has not been a lot of research on it, but some studies have shown that there is a possible link between it and SIDS and that the number of babies who have had the condition could be higher than first believed.
"Throughout all of her treatment the doctors and nurses at the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children have been absolutely incredible and I cannot thank them enough for everything they have done to support her and our family.
"In order to try and raise money for research into PPA2 and the Children's Heartbeat Trust, later this year I am going to be running the Belfast Marathon and will be donating everything to the incredible charity."
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