Eloise is still in intensive care but is much more responsive. She’s awake and talking, and watching some of her favourite programmes. She is very weak, and hasn’t yet had a feed, but we feel she has turned a corner. She was taken off the additional oxygen support and is stable.
The stem cell transplant went well. The team from the Marsden came and Eloise’s stem cells were transported in a cubicle (see below) into intensive care. The nurses then took out the cells, warmed them up in a specific water machine to un-freeze them and then gave them to Eloise via her Hickman line. All of this was meticulously timed and managed. She’s had no side effects thus far, which is fantastic.
Eloise has stopped being sick (including blood) since the middle of the night (after upping her anti-sickness meds further), and is due to re-start a very small feed via her NG line shortly. We are hoping she tolerates this and it can be increased and she can recover her strength, and that in due course she can also eat normally too!
We are hoping to get out of intensive care and return to the Marsden hospital over the weekend. Doctors feel relatively confident that the severe seizure was a response to the thiotepa chemo drug, so we really pray this is the case. We will be talking to neurologists in due course, so we know what to do if this were to ever happen again (we really pray it doesn’t).
How do we feel?
We are so proud of our girl. It’s been a brutal week, and we know Eloise is also likely to feel very poorly from the chemo over the next 1-2 weeks, but we are so proud that she has been soldiering on. It’s lovely being able to talk to her again. She’s such a sweetie!
We are incredibly grateful to all the staff in intensive care here at St George’s and the teams at Royal Marsden. They have been wonderful and Eloise has had so many things checked and re-checked (MRIs, EEGs, ECGs, bloods, cultures etc etc). We couldn’t ask for anything more!
We are very grateful that Eloise has not had any obvious seizure activity over the past few days. So incredibly relieved and grateful.
We also feel exhausted, miss Anna and miss normality. But we are grateful that Eloise has got through this week and we keep our minds focused on moving forward…
For those that pray:
- Thanks that Eloise has come through a scary ordeal, is now doing much better than she was and can now focus on recovery (from the seizure and her high dose chemo).
- Pray that Eloise continues to get stronger and tolerates her feeds.
- Pray for Anna, as this has been a particularly hard week for her too.
- Pray for Eloise as she suffers the effects of the high-dose chemotherapy over the next 1-2 weeks. Pray these short term effects are as minimal as possible (e.g. limited mucositis, sickness, skin damage) and that she can get to proton therapy very very quickly!
- Pray that the high-dose chemo is doing what it needs to do, and kills any remaining cancer cells.
Eloise Zoe 
Thank you so much for your update, and so thankful to God for lots of answered prayers, and we continue to think and pray lots and lots.
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Praising and thanking God for the progress Eloise is making , for her wonderful team , parents and sister .
Praying as you ask .
Thank you for these updates .
God bless you all . Love Penny . X
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We never stop praying for all of you! We hold your arms up and ask God for a relief soon!
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Thank you so much for update. Xx
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Giving thanks for the progress made after the tough week, and praying with you and for you all.
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So thankful Eloise is moving in the right direction. Praying now she has nourishment and tolerates the high dose chemo in the next couple of weeks . Praying for Anna and your whole family.
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So thankful for the improvement in Eloise’s condition. Praying she tolerates her feeds and the chemo treatment in the next couple of weeks. Also for Pete, Mel , Anna and your family.
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Praise God for such encouraging news .So pleased you have got your little girl back and things all seem normal .Praying for strength no more nausea and vomiting so she can feed .Praying she will rest in Jesus arms as father God heals and restores her in body ,mind soul and emotions by His Spirit .Praying for whole family that trauma and anxiety and heaviness drops off in the name of Jesus.Praying for sister Annie that she will bounce back as Eloise does too .no lasting psychological effects from distance sister and parents .Praying for all grandparents .teachers helpers friends to all for rest and peace in you .
Thankful safe retrieval,transport and insertion of her Stem cells .Continuing to believe total eradication and healing and good results all round .no fits no developmental effects and all look back on this knowing Gods love protection and Grace
Finally praying safe transfer soon and speedy final hurdle Proton therapy .God bless you all continuing to pray .love Judy and family .
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You are all very much in my thoughts and prayers. What an amazing God and an amazing team – family, medics and God. X
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Excellent news. We all hope that everything now is totally positive towards Eloise for her complete recovery and for the well being of the family.
Our very best wishes,
Linda, Roy and Suzanne
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Thankful for so much good news!!! Praying for getting out of intensive care and a better week coming!
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💕may you all feel surrounded by the Fathers love. Praying for little Eloise and her complete restoration and healing. For wonderful family time to come and trusting in Gods best x
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Thank you for you emails. Continuing to pray for Eloise. ( contact from folks at King’sbridge family church)
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