Meet Amélie

Amélie radiates light! She is a playful preschooler who loves to dance and play with her brothers, Andwele and Akeem. After a nearly deadly accident at home, the experts at the Stollery gave Amélie a second chance to live a long and healthy life.

What started as an ordinary spring afternoon ended with an ambulance ride from Red Deer to the Stollery Children’s Hospital in Edmonton. Amélie’s mom was loading the dishwasher when her 18-month-old daughter collapsed to the ground. Quickly, her mom rushed her to their local emergency department where an X-ray showed a foreign object lodged in her throat. What looked to be a coin was actually a lithium coin battery. The Stollery’s pediatric ambulatory team rushed Amélie to the Stollery, where a team of experts immediately took her into the operating room after she went into cardiac arrest — twice. Things didn’t look good for the toddler. The battery had burnt multiple holes into Amélie’s internal tissue and had ruptured her esophagus, trachea, aorta and carotid left artery. Her medical team worked through the night, performing multiple life-saving surgeries, including an open-heart surgery.

After receiving more than four litres of blood, Amélie recovered in the pediatric intensive care unit where she spent a few days on life support, followed by a few more days on a ventilator until she was strong enough to become an inpatient. After spending 36 days at the Stollery, Amélie was ready to go home. Today, Amélie is as cheerful as ever and always ready to pose for the camera. She will require ongoing care as she grows older and is followed closely by her team at the Stollery. Amélie’s parents are grateful to the team at the Stollery that saved their daughter’s life and are thankful to have our world-class hospital just a short drive away.