Please help the Tyrrell Family

My beautiful friends Leah and Glenn need your help!

In summary, 26-week miracle baby Hendrix needs to come home, while his warrior mum Leah awaits a double lung transplant. Please read their story below Xx

Six years ago, during her first pregnancy Leah was diagnosed with Chronic Eosinophilic Pneumonia.

A condition where her lungs started to scar and dysfunction on their own; though you would hardly know it, she never complains! Leah and Glenn have 3 beautiful children together, but not without challenges you or I can hardly imagine. Unfortunately, with each subsequent pregnancy her condition worsened and with her third baby, little boy Hendrix, Leah nearly lost her life.

During her pregnancy with Hendrix, Leah’s lungs failed her around the 20-week mark. She describes it as her body finally ran out of oxygen, she turned blue and was rushed to hospital. Since then, she has been in and out of induced coma, resuscitation, her family were called to say good-bye, ICU, rehab, and now finally home, but not without her biggest battle that is still ahead of her: a double lung transplant. During this time, she delivered baby Hendrix via emergency caesarean, under an induced coma at 26 weeks gestation. Doctors hoped after birthing Hendrix her health would improve, but it continues to decline. To say she is a warrior and he a little miracle to both be here today are gross understatements!

Leah has now completed 9 weeks of rehabilitation treatment to rebuild her stamina for basic showering and clothing, allowing her to return home. Hendrix is thriving at 5 months earth side, and he is also ready to come home. As grateful as they are, and already feeling indebted to the universe for his good health, sadly his progress also leads to complex issues surrounding his care and their situation looks like this:

Glenn will need stop work for at least 12 months to be Hendrix AND Leah’s full-time carer as she is unable to take on this role due to her own ill health. She is currently wheelchair bound and on oxygen 24/7, as her body rejects her lungs as foreign objects. In order for Hendrix to be released from hospital, Leah and Glenn need to fund their own in-home nurse as part of his return-to-home conditions for as long as he also remains on oxygen. This is to the tune of approximately $2000 per week. If they can’t provide this financially, they will have to resort to placing Hendrix in voluntary foster care with expert pediatric care until he can breath on his own.

All the while, Leah continues to tackle her own illness head on. Her condition has now progressed to Severe Progressive Interstitial Lung Disease. In basic terms, she cannot get enough oxygen into her blood stream and is in desperate need of a double lung transplant. We hope and pray she will be eligible for the operation and once she has clearance to proceed, we hope compatible lungs will become available as quickly as possible; her prognosis is terminal without the transplant. If she is lucky enough to be a suitable candidate for the transplant and receive a set of lungs, she will then confront a long, hard road of recovery.

Aside from the obvious medical bills, Leah and Glenn face a plethora of costs including either accommodation or transport to hospital as they are at least 90 mins travel each way, the complete loss of income while Glenn cannot work, care for their two elder daughters as Leah can barely transfer from bed to couch; she simply cannot actively participate in the day-to-day care of their children, not even dressing or feeding them.

In an ideal world, I am trying to raise enough money for them to cover all associated expenses, as they do not qualify for NDIS funding. However, as Leah and Hendrix have tackled this one day and one step at a time, I take the lead from them and will start by at least trying to raise the funds for the first month of in-home care for Hendrix, so this family doesn’t need to be kept apart from one another, especially not after everything they have been through and for what is yet to come.

My final thoughts I would like to share with you are about the type of people Leah and Glenn are, to their friends, family and the wider community. They are warm, kind, giving and hard-working folk. They are always the first to offer their love, help and support to others in need, in any which way they can. Now its our turn to rally around them in return. It has come to a point where their sheer grit and determination won’t be enough to get them through. They need to out-source expert support and care, and that comes at a great financial cost. Thank you for your consideration. Any amount you can donate to take some of their stress away and help our beautiful friends would be so deeply appreciated.

*We understand if you cannot donate during these difficult times, but we would greatly appreciate if you could please share the link far and wide amongst your friends, families & colleagues.