Cute as a button in her fairy-tale dress, little Eloise Shaw made a perfect bridesmaid at her mum and dad’s wedding.
As the two-year-old and her page boy brother Jacob, four, filed past the guests, waiting to hear their mum Lea and dad Ryan say ‘I do,’ tears of joy flowed freely.
Everyone knew that Eloise was only there for their big day at Walsall’s Fair Lawns Hotel on October 19 as her mum and dad had each, separately, saved her life.
Lea, 40, a teacher, of Hemel Hempstead, told The Mirror: “It was such an emotional day, because everyone knew what Eloise had been through.”
A few weeks after she was born, in December 2021, Eloise started to develop jaundice.
Lea said: “Nothing was picked up in the pregnancy and when she was born, for two weeks we thought we had our perfect little family. Then she started to look a bit yellow, but the midwife said that it was normal, and that a lot of babies develop jaundice.”
But tests at the local hospital revealed something was wrong with the levels in her liver.
“We saw on her notes from there that they suspected she may have a condition called biliary atresia, where the bile ducts don’t form properly,” said Lea. “We were so shocked, we had never imagined that there would be anything seriously wrong.”
The diagnosis was confirmed five weeks later at Kings College Hospital in London and the following week Eloise had a Kasai procedure, where surgeons attempt to remove the diseased bile ducts and redirect the bile flow from the liver.
Not always successful, sadly, a few months later the procedure failed.
Lea said: “She started to deteriorate quickly. By June 2022 she couldn’t keep anything down and she was put on the transplant list.
“But she was taken off again as her condition worsened, as she was deemed too ill for a transplant.
“She was given a blood transfusion at King’s College Hospital and she was sleeping for 23 hours a day.”
Fortunately, four weeks later, things changed for the better and she was put back on the emergency transplant list, only for it to be discovered that her dad Ryan, 40, a gas engineer, was a good match.
So, in August 2022, during a 12 hour operation, part of Ryan’s liver was removed and transplanted into Eloise.
Lea said: “It was terrifying having them both in the operating theatre like that.
“Surgeons afterwards told us that the state of Eloise’s liver was so horrific that, without the transplant, she would have only had days left to live.
“Ryan went to see Eloise afterwards. It was so emotional - that he had saved her life.”
But she was not out of the woods, as two days later, she suffered from a perforated bowel and again her life hung in the balance.
Ryan was discharged from hospital after a week and Eloise was finally allowed home two months after the transplant.
Lea said: “It was so lovely to have them both home.
“We thought that we could finally get on with life as a family and put it behind us, now that she had Ryan’s liver.”
But, in March last year, seven months after the transplant, Eloise developed a respiratory infection.
Without warning, the fragile little girl suffered a complete cardiac arrest.
This time, it was her mum’s turn to save her life.
Lea recalled: “It was terrifying. She suddenly collapsed at home. We rang 999 and I performed CPR on her until the paramedics came.
“I thought we had lost her, as she was so lifeless. But when the paramedics came they said that she was only still alive because of the CPR. If I hadn’t done it, she wouldn’t have made it.
“I’d taken a first aid course, but to actually have to perform it on your own child is horrendous.”
Luckily, Eloise made a full recovery and, when Lea and Ryan got engaged in August last year, it felt like a fitting tribute to their daughter’s recovery for her to be their bridesmaid alongside her brother, Jacob, dressed like a ‘mini-me’ of his dad, as their pageboy
“It was such a perfect way to celebrate her still being with us,” said Lea.
“All the wedding speeches talked about her amazing survival.”
Recalling a special fairy tale her friend had written and read out to the guests,Lea said: “It started off with the fairy godmother being called Tinder, as that’s how Ryan and I met!
“Then it went on to say how a wicked fairy put a spell on Eloise while she was in my belly to make her poorly and it took a piece of her daddy and the warrior strength of her mummy to make her well again.
“The guests were in tears when it was being read out and Eloise knew it was all about her. She kept saying ‘that’s me’ and pointing to herself. She was so funny.
“Then my aunty, who is in her eighties, stood up and said how we as a couple had been through more before we got married than most couples go through in a lifetime. So that was incredibly emotional too.
“Jacob was the best pageboy and Eloise was the best bridesmaid we could have ever hoped for.
“To be able to celebrate like this with family and friends was amazing. We didn’t want to get married until Eloise had fully recovered.”
Lucky, the whole Shaw family is thriving now.
“Ryan’s liver is functioning perfectly. It couldn’t have been a better match for Eloise,” says Lea. “We feel incredibly lucky that she’s here with us - she’s a little miracle.”
And Eloise is looking forward to her third birthday next month, which the family plans to celebrate over a few days, with a trip to see the Christmas lights display at Warwick Castle, a visit to Santa and a fun day at the local swimming pool.
Ryan added: “I never hesitated to help save Eloise. The fact that Lea and I have both managed to save her means so much to us.”
A spokeswoman for the Children’s Liver Disease Foundation, which has supported the family, (MUST LEAVE IN) said: ‘Eloise has done remarkably well. It’s lovely that she was able to be a bridesmaid after being saved by both her parents like this.’