Baby With Meningitis Recovering Well As Family Leaves Malta For U.K.
Back in May, a couple of days of holidaying in Malta quickly turned into a nightmare seven weeks when Marc Young and Amy Hopkins from Rishton, UK, ended up having their 10-month-old daughter Eliza rushed to hospital with Streptococcus Pneumococcal Meningitis on the day of arrival. Now, though, there’s been a hopeful turn of events.
Two close friends of the British family had opened a Go Fund Me page for the Youngs last month with a target of £5,000, and the campaign managed to raise much more than that, with the final number standing at over £15k. Thanks to this contribution and the help of dozens of people, Eliza’s story has finally taken a turn to the positive.
“Little Eliza is doing amazing,” her mother Amy said. “Lots of appointments coming up and lots of physio, and she still lost the left hand side use of her body and her hearing in her right ear, but the great news is that her eye sight is slowly coming back.”
One of the people who had no prior connection with the family but had reached out to them after reading their story while they were still in Malta gave us some more information on the current situation. The woman, who lives a quick 10 minute walk away from the hospital, had reached out to the family and offered them free accommodation while Eliza’s treatment on the island continues. “Thankfully, when I had contacted them, they had already signed a short-term contract with a Maltese man for the period until the end of July. I told them to contact me if Eliza is still in hospital after then, and they’d be more than welcome to stay with me. However, there was gladly no need for them to come and stay with me as little Eliza started improving.”
And improve she did. Young Eliza, who had celebrated her first birthday hooked up to machines at Mater Dei, is now back home. “They are planning on coming back to Malta in May next year,” the woman said. “They’re actually hoping to come over before for a short break if Eliza continues to improve. She still has a long road to recover but she has got this far, so I think she is one strong little girl!”
The family shared some updates over the last couple of days, thanking everyone and expressing how overwhelmed they were with the amount of support and well wishes they received over the last couple of months. The money that was raised via the Go Fund Me page will go towards Eliza’s recovery, whether that be for specialist equipment, specialist paediatric physiotherapy, occupational or speech therapy. “Without this money that was donated by such caring and amazing people from all around the world, little Eliza may not have had such a great chance to carry on fighting meningitis,” one of the family’s contributors explained.
A couple of days after Eliza’s story was published, Mater Dei Hospital had informed Lovin Malta that private jet charters VistaJet had offered flights back home to the family whenever young Eliza is cleared to fly. Also, St. Julians’ family-run restaurant Il-Pirata supplied the family with food while they stayed here in Malta.
Eliza’s mother Amy said they’re “missing Malta like crazy”, going on to say the family would definitely be back once Eliza is feeling better because “everyone over there is just amazing!”
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