With the Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH) Good Friday Appeal being held tomorrow, we have brought you the story of young Frank Skratulja, whose family has utilised the services of the hospital since June 2022 as well as the Mercy and Sunshine hospitals.

Frank was born just before his identical twin brother Luka on May 25, 2022 at the Mercy Hospital. The boys were born at just 25 weeks, with Frank weighing 601g and Luka 746g. Amie McGillivray and Florio Skratulja thought the pregnancy was going well, until Amie “felt a bit off” and was flown to Melbourne with a bleed. Told she would remain in hospital for the remainder of the pregnancy, Amie resigned to a long wait. However, a week later, the babies were born by caesarean section.

Luka had a perforated bowel and was transferred to the Royal Children’s Hospital where everything was done to save him, but at just eight days old, Luka passed away. “It’s all just a blur, I had no idea how to cope with the emotional roller coaster I was now dealing with. Everyone at the Children’s were just amazing. The nurse with us (Pippa), she was crying with us and comforting us,” said Amie.

Such is the compassion shown that they were able to return to the Mercy with Luka after he had passed so the family could all be together. Amie said the RCH counsellors kept in contact with them for a few months and offered many different services.

On the day of Luka’s funeral, Amie and Florio visited Frank, who was still in the Mercy hospital, and were met with uncertain news. 

“The morning of Luka’s funeral was Frank’s sickest day. We went to see Frank before the funeral and all the doctors were around him and were unsure if he was going to survive. He was on 100 per cent oxygen when we left, so we just weren’t sure what to expect when we were farewelling his brother.” 

Amie had been discharged from the Mercy three days after the birth, and apart from three days in a motel immediately after, Amie and Florio stayed in Altona and commuted an hour to the hospital each day. Amie’s then 20-year-old daughter Tori remained at home in Torrumbarry. 

Frank was monitored in the Mercy’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) for 79 days. He required operations on two hernias and laser surgery on his eyes, which would be undertaken in one go at the RCH when he was old enough and strong enough. Until then, staff from RCH would go to the Mercy to give him injections in his eyes to stop the vessels from growing.

Frank was discharged from the Mercy and admitted to RCH for his operations where he remained for a couple of days before being readmitted to the Mercy for further care.

“The paediatrician that had Luka the night he passed also made the effort to come and help support Frank, Florio and I the day Frank had his surgeries. Even though she wasn’t his doctor, she still made the effort. Feeling unsure and anxious about leaving Frank, she gave us reassurance and made us feel more comfortable.”

In total, Frank was at the Mercy for 150 days, finally discharged on October 18, 2022, and still on oxygen. But it wasn’t time to come home to Torrumbarry yet. Staying in Melbourne to be close to medical help, it wasn’t long before they were back in hospital. This time, Frank had developed oral aversion, had stopped feeding and now required a feed tube. He spent time at the Mercy and the Sunshine Hospital, where feed clinics are held.

“Because of all the tubes and all the medications that he required, once he got discharged, he was having to have them orally, which he didn’t like. He slowly stopped feeding and gaining weight. It’s very common in NICU babies,” explained Amie.

“The feed tubes go into his nose and down to his stomach. You’ve got to hold the tube above his head as it’s gravity fed. Before every feed, you’d have to draw some fluid out of his stomach and check the acidity on the stick, and to ensure the tube is in his stomach. I’d give him the medication he needed, followed by his feed. I’d sit in a certain spot on the couch and clip the feed to the lamp or clip it to the pram, so you end up making little things work as feeds could take up to an hour and you need both hands.” 

Finally, on January 26, 2023, Frank made his first trip to his new home at Torrumbarry, and to Gunbower, where he surprised his Great Nanna for her 91st birthday. Because of the many appointments at the RCH, the family spent just as much time in Melbourne as they did at Torrumbarry.

Frank required oxygen until he was 8 months old, and had the feeding tube removed in November 2023, at 18 months. He has made numerous trips to hospitals to have his feeding tube put back in after he would rip it out.

They might now be at home, and Frank looks like any other child (he certainly has a mischievous smile), but the visits to Melbourne are frequent. He has had pneumonia twice, the flu, tonsillitis (six times since August) and numerous stays at RCH because of his struggles with breathing. There are visits for his eyes, ears, paediatrician and surgeon check-ups, and an ear, nose and throat specialist. Some services previously undertaken at RCH – physio, speech therapy, dietician, occupational therapy, as well as five monthly (May to September) RSV injections for chronic lungs can now be accessed in Echuca through the RCH.

Throw in Covid-19 and floods at home, and there sure has been a lot for this family to deal with, but it has been made easier with the care and support from their families, staff and services at the RCH. 

“The staff at the Children’s, they all make you feel so welcome. A lot of the doctors that were at the Mercy, the fellows, we have seen them at the Children’s as well. They rotate six monthly, and they’ve loved seeing his progress.

“You don’t really realise how important the Children’s Hospital is until you’re in there yourself, and how much we need it; and you go in there and you see how sick some of the children are. It’s heart breaking, but they’re in the right place to get the help they need. It’s an amazing hospital with so many specialist services available.

“You look around and you don’t realise how many people do use it. He wouldn’t be where he is now if it wasn’t for the Children’s Hospital. Or the Mercy and Sunshine hospitals, and our local Cohuna Hospital and clinic as well, but we’ve had a lot of support from the Children’s. We go to the Children’s because we feel so comfortable and the staff are so beautiful and caring.”

When you donate to the Royal Children’s Hospital Good Friday Appeal, it is locals like Frank and their families that you help. Don’t be shy with your donations this year; you never know which local will need help next.

This article appeared in The Koondrook and Barham Bridge Newspaper, 28 March 2024.