Taya's Story (Balgownie)

When Susan noticed that her normally lively five year old daughter Taya didn’t have any energy to play and her eyes had started to swell, she assumed Taya had a common virus and took her to their local GP. Taya was actually having a severe asthma attack and their GP advised that Taya go straight to their local hospital in Wollongong.

As her condition worsened, they were rushed to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Sydney Children’s Hospital, Randwick, so that Taya could be cared for by the specialist ICU team. Taya received oxygen and treatment to help stabilise her condition and was monitored around the clock by the dedicated ICU staff.

After three days Taya began to improve. She was well enough to be moved onto the ward for two days before she and Susan returned home.

Taya is ecstatic that she is finally able to have her 5th birthday party she missed out on whilst she was in hospital. To find out what triggers Taya’s asthma Susan and Taya’s dad Guy will monitor her very closely and record her surroundings in a diary when she has an attack. She is also on preventative medication to reduce the likelihood of the attacks occurring.

“Next month we will be bringing Taya back to Sydney for lung and blood tests to see if she has any allergies that are triggering the asthma attacks,” said Susan, “Sydney Children’s Hospital was wonderful and took the best care of our darling daughter, during what was a very difficult and emotional time.”