When Keiley Ball went to her 20-week scan, she was told that there was an 80% chance that her child would never walk or talk.
During her appointment, the clinicians noticed there was a bowel issue with her baby. Following further testing, it was found that the baby had an infection known as congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV).
CMV is a common virus that is usually harmless in adults but can lead to complications when passed on to a child during pregnancy. Keiley was told that due to the severity of the infection, there was an 80% chance that her daughter would never walk or talk.
Gracie-Mae was born on 31 March 2018 by emergency caesarean section, staying in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at the Jessops Wing of Sheffield Teaching Hospitals until she was two weeks old. She then had hospital appointments almost every day at Sheffield Children’s Hospital as the team at the Trust worked out how to offer Gracie-Mae the best care.
She was put on a course of antibiotics for six months. This couldn’t stop the infection but could help to reduce the long-lasting effects.
Tests found that she was deaf in her right ear, so she received care from the hearing department. She also had a condition called nystagmus that caused a wobble in one of her eyes, meaning she needed support from the eye department to correct it.
Gracie receives care from teams across Sheffield Children’s to this day, including the Infectious Diseases team, the Gastroenterology team, the Neurology team, along with the hearing and eye departments.
A neurologist told Keiley that if Gracie-Mae wasn’t able to walk and talk by age five, then she wouldn’t do so, but she exceeded all expectations and now, being well past five years old, Gracie is able to walk. She still uses a chair for longer distances, as she does get tired, but is able to walk independently for short distances.
While Gracie doesn’t talk, she is able to communicate using Makaton (a unique language programme that uses symbols, signs and speech to enable people to communicate) to interact with her family and friends.
Gracie-Mae is a bubbly and lively little girl, and her family are so grateful for all the care she has received at Sheffield Children’s.
Mum, Keiley, said: “We’ve had a brilliant experience with Sheffield Children’s. Every time we’ve had a question or needed something, they have been there for us.”
To say thank you for Gracie-Mae’s care, Keiley and her family and friends have taken on different fundraising challenges for our charity, including Chatsworth Walk and our abseil down Sheffield Hallam University’s Owen Building, raising lots to help other children, just like Gracie-Mae.
On top of that, Gracie-Mae has been a brilliant advocate for our charity by appearing on our posters, leaflets, banners and more.
To support our charity through an event too, please visit our events page to see what’s coming up.
