HORSHAM grade three student Zarlie Patterson has been to hell and back in the past year and a half.
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The Horsham West Primary School student, 8, suddenly became paralysed up to her eyes in August 2014.
Zarlie’s mother Jenelle Patterson said there were no warning signs before Zarlie became sick.
“She had a cold on the Tuesday when she came home from school, she then became paralysed and was in Melbourne on Thursday fully paralysed,” she said.
Zarlie was airlifted from Horsham to the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne before anyone even knew what was wrong with the little girl.
Zarlie was eventually diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome. The immune condition is characterised by acute paralysis and loss of reflexes without any sensory loss.
Mrs Patterson said Zarlie had the acute motor axonal neuropathy strain of the condition, one of the most serious.
She said the strain happened in one in 100,000 people.
“She spent four weeks in the intensive care unit on a ventilator, she had to get a tracheotomy,” she said.
“Zarlie had to do physiotherapy before she could even move.
“She couldn’t expel anything out of her lungs so she has developed lung and kidney issues.
“Her nerves were affected in her eyes and now she suffers from optic neuritis.”
Zarlie was at the Royal Children’s Hospital for three months – for one of those months she almost fully paralysed, using blinks to communicate with doctors and family.
She was then required to travel to Ballarat from Horsham for rehabilitation once a week for 10 weeks.
Doctors do not know what caused Zarlie to fall ill, but she is now at home and back at school full time.
Her vision is improving but she now wears glasses and cannot see in full colour.
Mrs Patterson said Zarlie’s recovery had been a long one but was on track.
“It’s been tough,” she said.
“She’s still behind at school and she does get tired, but she’s still very much a kid.
“She does gymnastics, netball and she’s about to have a go at basketball.”
Mrs Patterson said one of Zarlie’s big recovery moments was riding her bike.
“She got a bike just before she got sick,” she said.
“So when she was strong enough she couldn’t wait to get on that bike.”
Zarlie said she was happy to be home and feeling better.
“I like to swim and run and ride my bike around,” she said.
“I missed all my friends, my sisters and my family.”
Zarlie was even able to actively participate in her school sports on Wednesday.
Mrs Patterson praised the Royal Children’s Hospital staff for everything they did to support their family while her daughter Zarlie was sick.
“They were the ones who picked up what she had, here they didn’t know,” she said.
“They organised places for us to stay, they put our minds at ease and always discussed everything in front of us so we knew what was going on.
“They gave us the best and the worst case scenarios.”
She said the staff also went out of their way to make Zarlie’s hospital stay the best it could be.
“They did everything they possibly could to make Zarlie’s life easier and our life easier,” she said.
“They were in contact with her school so she could do schooling at the hospital.
“She participated in all sorts of activities there when she was up and going.
“The staff took her out to give her ice cream when she hadn’t left her room for several weeks.
“They really went out of their way for her.”
Mrs Patterson said as part of her recovery Zarlie still has to visit the hospital for check-ups.
“She’s been going down every few months, her last neuro appointment will be in June,” she said.
Zarlie’s sister Missy, 10, was also a patient in the Royal Children’s Hospital.
Missy was admitted into the hospital when her lungs collapsed when she was four months old.
Mrs Patterson said although her girls and her family had been through a lot, they all still had a positive outlook.
“You just deal with what you are given,” she said.
Mrs Patterson encouraged people to donate to the hospital’s Good Friday Appeal this week.
“Every year I always give,” she said.
“Now no matter what I give I feel like I’m forever still in their debt.
“If you can give a dollar spare a dollar.”
