Last December, little Mack was one of the sickest babies at Melbourne’s The Royal Children’s Hospital. Born with only half a functioning heart, his journey was anything but easy.
Hannah and Cayden Lindsay live in St Helens, Tasmania, with their two boys. They enjoy having friends over to their property for gatherings around the BBQ. They share them home with lots of animals, including their beloved miniature schnauzer named Greta, who was pregnant at the same time as Hannah. They have family close by, who love looking after Eli.
In 2023, the family were delighted to discover that they were having another baby. However, their excitement turned to concern during Hannah’s routine 20-week scan in Launceston when doctors noticed an issue with the baby’s heart.
“So the 20 week scan,” says Hannah, “they couldn’t quite see a certain part of his heart. So they sent us [to Hobart] to a bigger hospital just to make sure.”
“We went, thinking, ‘I’m sure it’s nothing. They just couldn’t see it properly in that scan’.”
Birth is just the beginning
In Hobart, what is normally a 20-minute scan took 2 hours. This led to a referral to another hospital for more scans.
“They said that day they had an idea of what it could have been,” says Hannah, “but because he was obviously still quite small in that position, they weren’t a hundred percent sure. So they referred us to Melbourne pretty much straight away.”
With little time to process this news, they packed up and left behind their home, family, and friends, heading to Melbourne for the safe delivery of their baby at The Royal Children’s Hospital.
Hannah, Cayden, and Eli arrived at Ronald McDonald House in Parkville on November 27. Four weeks later, on Boxing Day, Mack was born. Hannah and Cayden had only a moment to hold him and take a quick photo before he was taken to intensive care.
“He essentially just has half a heart that works,” explains Cayden, Mack’s dad. “The whole right-hand side of his heart is deformed … two valves just didn’t work.”
Mack’s tiny body had no way of circulating oxygenated blood.
“That’s why he was straight onto oxygen, and a tube was inserted to connect to his lungs,” explained Cayden.
The first few weeks were intense and frightening. “We’d arrive at the hospital at nine in the morning and get back at nine at night,” says Cayden.
Finding support and connection
Once Mack was around 5 weeks old, he was finally able to join his family at Ronald McDonald House. While they waited for him to join them, they had been forming close relationships with a range of different helpers, staff, volunteers, occasionally friends or family and even other residents.
Cayden remembers one night when Mack had “terrible colic… he was just crying all night long… and one of the other mums in the neighbouring room came over and knocked on the door in the middle of the night, asking ‘Is there anything I can do? Can I just give you a break? I can feed him. Do whatever you want.’”
They had made friends with real connections.
Support and friendship for Eli
Eli had other children to play with, and he started making some supportive connections too. He looked forward to his time in the Learning Centre, where an hour of school was provided each day to help him keep up with his learning.
Says Hannah, “Eli having friends has helped us the most. Him being able to just go out and play and not be stuck with us all the time… I didn’t have to worry about him. I knew he was going to be safe within the walls of the House.”
Volunteers cared for and entertained him and his little buddies, others came in and cooked meals and snacks.
Hannah and Cayden are eternally grateful for the care given to their 5 year old, Eli, who’s been with them most of the time, when not back in Tasmania with grandparents intermittently.
“The lovely staff here all take an interest in what we are up to and what we are all doing,” says Hannah, “and always show excitement to see Eli which makes him feel special”.
Having Ronald McDonald House has also saved this family financially, as it does for many others.
“It meant we could still afford our mortgage back home”
Hannah says she’s “not sure what she would have done without Ronald McDonald House”.
An update from the family After 245 nights at RMH North Fitzroy, the Lindsay Family were able to go home and Mack met the rest of his family for the first time!
The House staff and volunteers miss them dearly but were so glad to see this beautiful family return home.
Looking to the future, and waiting
Mack is still waiting for what the family hope will be his last open heart surgery, so Ronald McDonald House continues to be their home as of June 2024. He’s going strong for the moment, even though he’s had a poorly timed, surgery-postponing cold. His oxygen is steadying as he recovers, and is now at around 80%. Unfortunately he’s still not well enough to go far from the hospital, especially with his compromised respiratory system suffering from the cold winter air.
As they wait, (approaching 200 nights at the House) the Lindsays have sold their boat in Tassie and have bought a caravan in Melbourne, which they keep close by to the House, so that Cayden can slowly fix it up in between hospital check-ups and appointments. They’re hoping that when Mack is well enough to leave the hospital, they can go on a road trip to Sydney to see Cayden’s brother, who has just had a baby too. On the way the plan to visit a couple of the families they’ve met at Ronald McDonald House, to catch up and see how they’re doing.
Greta had 7 puppies, who Eli can’t wait to meet!
After 245 nights at RMH North Fitzroy, the Lindsay Family were able to go home and Mack met the rest of his family for the first time!
The House staff and volunteers miss them dearly but were so glad to see this beautiful family return home.