Elliott C's quilt    (Quilt Completed)

Thank you

Oh my goodness me!!!! The gorgeous, beautiful quilt has arrived. It took time for Elliott to understand that you loved him so much and that people took the time to stitch his quilt just for him.

We are all amazed. We had a friend here at the time and she couldn't take her eyes of it and pointed out to Elliott there was one there from USA.

He was really baffled that you made it just for him. Our friend aid it was because he was special but it needed special people to stitch it in the first place.

He's got up this morning saying I love my quilt.

Thank you so very much. I'll send photos of his happy face and quilt later.

Hugs to you all

Finished photos

Individual squares

Fabric

Card

Stitched by: Heather

Biography

Elliott was born with no hole in his bottom (Imperforate Anus) and was transferred from our local hospital to Lewisham hospital. There he had a an operation to have a colostomy bag fitted as his bowel had stopped growing too high up. Elliott was due home the following weekend. He made little progress and on day 7 was blue lighted to Guy's Hospital where he was diagnosed with at least four defects in his heart (Tetralogy of Fallot). He had a BT shunt fitted on day 9 to allow the oxygen to get to his lungs. He came home a week later. At 8 months old he had his bowel reconstructed and a hole in his bottom was made. His health deteriorated and had his full Fallots repair at 1 year old. Once he had his open heart surgery we thought that he would be able to have his colostomy bag reversed. Sadly this was not the case.

During the first year of his life he was diagnosed with bladder and kidney problems and would need further open heart surgery. He had more heart surgery when he was two to enlarge his pulmonary artery, Mr Anderson performed both heart surgeries but this last one proved very tricky. It took him twice to get Elliott off bypass and they had to destroy some of his pulmonary valve by putting a patch through it.

Once Elliott had his second heart surgery he was then able to have his colostomy reversed. This has left him at the moment with bowel incontinence. Elliott was also diagnosed with spinal tethering after an MRI. In September 2008, Mr Chandler at Kings Hospital, performed an operation to untether his spinal cord. This meant Elliott couldn't walk for three months. The effects on Elliott's heart meant it was a very slow recovery.

Although Elliott still has problems with his kidneys and a neuropathic bladder he has not had to have surgery on these so far. He still has operations on his bowel but thankfully, these are getting less and less as he gets older. Elliott will still need more open heart surgery to repair his valve in the future.