Gemma
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Gemma has had to regularly fight for her life in the Intensive Care Unit since she was just a little baby.
Gemma was diagnosed with a Teratoma tumor when she was just eight months old. She first developed gastro-intestinal bleeding (uncontrolled bleeding around her stomach and intestines) when she was one year old, and has since been hospitalised numerous times to stop it. |
Five days before Christmas in 2003, when Gemma was ten, she became very unwell. She was bleeding again, but this time it was much worse than before. Gemma spent nearly ten weeks fighting for her life in the Intensive Care Unit, while specialists tried to stop the bleeding. Her Mum, Helen, said “we nearly lost her three times.”
Gemma received 100 units of blood during this time, which is about 45 litres. Amazingly the average adult human body only contains about half a litre of blood!
The doctors performed quite drastic surgery to stop the bleeding, and eventually Gemma pulled through, although she spent most of 2004 in and out of hospital with various complications.
Gemma says she hates being in hospital, and it’s also quite difficult for her brother, Luke, who’s 13 months younger than her.
Helen said “It’s hard to make any plans in advance because we don’t know how well Gemma will be. We can’t really even plan a holiday. We just take things one day at a time,” she said.
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