New Zealand baby with life-threatening illness stranded with parents in Ireland

There is growing hope that a New Zealand baby born in Europe with a life-threatening illness could get home in time for Christmas to meet his extended family.

New Zealand mother Elizabeth Dunne gave birth to her son Harrison in Ireland in September after traveling there with her husband James to seek medical help after suffering previous miscarriages.

But Harrison came into the world “without breathing or moving.”

He was diagnosed with myotubular myopathy, a genetic condition that left his muscles weak and means that he depends on a ventilator to help him breathe.

When told that the healthiest option for Harrison and his family would be to travel home to New Zealand, the Dunnes were initially surprised to learn that they would need to hire a specialized medical plane at a cost of 250,000 euros, almost NZ $ 430,000.

However, that cost dropped to € 70,000, just under NZ $ 100,000, in the last day or two after doctors concluded that a specialized aircraft would not be necessary to get Harrison home.

A Gofundme page has been created to help the family raise money and get home, Father James told Irish radio station Beat.

“As parents, you want the best for your children in a normal situation, but put that in a hyper-nightmare situation and then add a global pandemic, and put 14,000 kilometers between you and where you want to be,” he said.

The nightmare diagnosis for baby Harrison came after the Dunnes had already suffered multiple heartaches while trying to give birth.

The young family, which had taken over the Palmerston North Aqaba café from Elizabeth’s parents, had suffered four miscarriages.

Elizabeth also suffered a molar pregnancy, a complication in which the tissues around a fertilized egg develop abnormally to form a mass that must be removed.

They later traveled to Ireland, where James’s parents lived, to meet with doctors, who had helped women with a history of miscarriage to give birth successfully.

There was no indication that anything was wrong with the pregnancy until baby Harrison was born “limp” and unable to move.

Mom Elizabeth told the Irish station Beat that there had been progression in Harrison since he was born and that they were “holding on to hope.”

However, there was no cure for her condition and the doctors had told them not to expect her to have a long life.

“There is no cure, clinical trial, surgery or drug that can fix Harrison. What we can control is the life we ​​give him,” the family said on their Gofundme page.

Elizabeth said her family was “trying to live” the best they could in every precious moment we spent together.

That’s why they had been having “a lot of conversations with doctors about quality of life,” he said.

That eventually led to the belief that coming home to New Zealand was important so that they could be close to their support network and provide Harrison with the “happiest and most fulfilling life” possible.

But there was also a medical reason.

Specialists told the family that it was important to protect Harrison from the disease for the next two years because even the common cold could be difficult for him to recover.

“New Zealand is currently moving towards a climate that is more favorable for Harrison and gives him the best possible start before the next cold and flu season,” the couple said.

“For this reason, we would love to get home before Christmas, when summer really begins. All we have now is time with him.”