As she runs around the playground with flowing blonde curls, it’s hard to believe that three-year-old Molly Young has been sick even one day in her life. But just weeks after her birth, she was on the brink of death.
She was born two months premature in September 2021 and was underweight. Shortly after returning home, she contracted a virus and when her parents realized she was having trouble breathing, she was rushed back to hospital in an ambulance.
Doctors diagnosed her with pneumonia and, more worryingly, life-threatening sepsis – which occurs when the body overreacts to an infection and damages tissues and organs.
Scans showed her lungs were swollen and filled with fluid, meaning she was in danger of suffocating. She was put on a ventilator, but this had little effect.
Molly with her mother Rose after completing a run for Evelina London Children’s Charity
Baby Molly in the hospital is battling blood poisoning and pneumonia
Molly cheers for her mother and waves a small flag in support of ELCH
She was seriously ill and was transferred to the specialized Evelina London Children’s Hospital, where doctors suggested a radical intervention.
Molly’s parents, Rose Abbott and Sam Young, from Walthamstow, east London, were told she needed a procedure called extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), which allows the body to breathe without using the lungs.
It involves removing blood from the body, removing the carbon dioxide and adding fresh oxygen, then returning it to the body.
This ensures that the organs continue to function. However, while the procedure is effective in adults, it is risky for children as it can cause strokes and other complications.
These are most likely to occur in newborns because their blood vessels are small and easily damaged.
But Evelina Hospital has developed a new approach to ECMO for children.
Normally, blood is taken from children and returned via the neck. However, experts say this increases the risk of blood clots traveling to the brain, which can lead to strokes. Instead, Evelina’s specialists suggested returning the oxygen-rich blood through the leg.
With no other options, Rose and Sam agreed, but they feared Molly would never wake up.
“We were devastated,” said Rose, 39, a brand manager at a cosmetics company. “I knew if this didn’t work, we would lose her because it was the only option left.”
Molly was put on ECMO for 12 days, which gave doctors enough time to give her strong antibiotics and steroids to fight the lung infection and control the sepsis. And although Molly’s leg swelled as a result of the catheter placed in her groin, she experienced no dangerous side effects.
Her condition quickly improved and after two more days on a ventilator, she was breathing freely. After three months she was fired.
“Molly was incredibly ill and we had to give her lungs a rest and a chance to heal,” explains Dr. Jon Lillie, Evelina’s pediatric intensive care consultant.
“She was the sickest patient in the hospital before we put her on ECMO, but after that she improved so quickly.”
Evelina now teaches the technique to other children’s hospitals.
Around 50,000 children are admitted to hospital with pneumonia in England each year, with around 1,000 deaths. Approximately 25,000 children are diagnosed with sepsis.
“This approach is increasingly being used for small children,” says Dr. Lillie. ‘Although all forms of ECMO carry risks, we have not seen a single stroke since we started this new approach.’
Rose and Sam, who also have a five-year-old son, Hughie, say Molly’s recovery has been remarkable.
“The first time we held her again was amazing,” says Rose. ‘When you have a baby you take for granted that you can cuddle her, but I didn’t hold her for over a month because of all the wires and tubes.
“To hold her for about an hour every day, it just meant the world.”
Molly is bursting with energy now, Rose says. “We feel like a miracle has been performed for us,” she adds. ‘Molly is just sweet, so funny, she runs everywhere and can’t wait to be outside. She has an absolute fire in her, an incredible spirit.”
