A virus attacked the baby's heart at just a few weeks old, leading to a two-month long battle. Little Tessa Dubey was able to leave hospital just in time to celebrate her first Christmas with her family.
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Tessa was born on September 29 at the Rimouski Regional Hospital. The little one was doing well and the family returned home a few days after birth. However, the newborn quickly contracted a virus called myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle.
“It was an endo enterovirus that she caught. It probably happened the first night we came to my house. Our oldest had a little cold, maybe the virus was strong and it led to a heart attack,” explains mother Véronique Pelletier.
Alerted by Tessa's weight loss, a nurse ran additional tests. A lumbar puncture revealed meningitis, which led to the child's hospitalization.
“The next day, she had a heart ultrasound and that's when the cardiologist decided to fly Tessa to CHUL by air ambulance,” explains Tessa's mother. The parents did not know what the child had suffered then. It was October 6.
“He immediately saw that there was something wrong with his heart. It was only when he was in intensive care here that we realized that [c’était grave]. We had a full reception team,” Amma continues.
Tessa's father, Sébastien Dubey, has made several trips back and forth between Quebec and Rimouski to provide a home presence for his eldest and best support for his partner and little Tessa.
Photo by Stevens LeBlanc
Lots of back and forth
Parents were able to know what was happening to the newborn.
“There, it was a lot of fun,” says Sebastien Dubay, Tessa's father, who commuted back and forth between Quebec and Rimouski to manage his business and give Tessa's big brother some semblance of a normal life.
Try the parents next week. Tessa had arrhythmias, seizures and a massive lung bleed. All this in a few days of life.
Doctors had to install an extracorporeal membrane to promote oxygenation, commonly known as ECMO. Tessa's chances of surviving unharmed are one in three. One in three people die from it.
“ECMO is a matter of life and death once you get there,” Mom explains. I went outside to go to the bathroom and threw up, which is always bad news.
Help welcome
The small family was able to count on the help of the En Cœur Foundation to overcome this great ordeal. The presence of volunteers helped parents not feel isolated. The foundation sponsored them, paid hotel expenses and provided cafeteria vouchers.
Hours before Tessa and her parents make their long-awaited return home to Rimouski.
Photo by Stevens LeBlanc
Tessa was finally released from intensive care in the first week of December. The family returned home on December 13, just in time to cut down the Christmas tree, decorate it and relax.
To reduce the risk of contact with Tessa viruses, the family should be isolated for some time. So it will be a quiet holiday.
“But at least we know she'll live,” Tessa's father breathes gratefully.
Quotation
“I'm not that religious, but I've never prayed to the good Lord like that. I'd better go to midnight mass, I'm sure I'll give thanks,” said Tessa's father, Sébastien Dubé.
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