In August 2013 Catherine Innes went into labour with her first child, Ella. Ella was starved of oxygen at birth and didn’t take her first unassisted breath for six minutes putting her at high risk of suffering permanent brain damage.
Using an innovative treatment pioneered by Sparks-funded research, Ella was put in a cooling suit for three days to lower her core body temperature. This had a protective effect on her brain. After 5 days, she had her first MRI Scan which showed no signs of brain damage. Ella’s now a happy nine-month-old and is developing in line with her peers thanks to the treatment.
Ella’s father Iain, his friends and family are now raising money for Sparks. Iain explains, ‘Ella’s treatment is a relatively recent advance in treating babies who are starved of oxygen at birth. Prior to the cooling technology, Ella would have had around a 70% chance of not making it or suffering from a brain injury. Cooling therapy has reduced the chances of this to less than 50%.We want to help Sparks so they can fund more innovative research and make a lasting difference to babies and families, just like they’ve done for us.’
Read about the next step in research to protect the new born brain that Sparks are funding.