The story of Eva Victoria

Our daughter Eva Victoria was taken to the hospital on Good Friday because she suddenly had a fever of 41 degrees without any other symptoms. Previously she had only had diarrhea and vomited once. When she arrived at the hospital, she was briefly examined and sent home with a diagnosis of “respiratory tract infection.”

At home, Eva slept all day. In the evening she was just whimpering, but with her eyes closed. Funny: she liked lying alone better than rocking in the Ergo, which usually calmed her down so much... she couldn't sleep anymore and we kept calling the doctor's phone, but they couldn't help much and didn't recognize the danger.

The next day we discovered bruises on her feet and legs while changing diapers. We immediately ran back to the children's hospital. At the emergency room we were asked, as usual, why we were there. When we mentioned and showed the bruises, the receptionist's face changed. She immediately had us led into a room. A doctor came quickly, a little later the senior doctor and soon the whole room was full. We knew: Something was no longer right. “We suspect a pneumococcal infection,” the senior doctor explained to us. “Is this dangerous?” I asked, unsure, because I couldn’t do much with the diagnosis. “Yes, it is life-threatening,” he confirmed to me. The first thought I had was: Eva Victoria, life and victory. Even before the birth, my husband had a strong impression that we should give our daughter a name that meant “life” and shortly before the birth I dreamed of the name Victoria. Even back then I asked myself: What does this name mean? As a person of faith, I said back then: 'If Eva's life is ever in danger, I will know that she will survive.' Now the time had come. Of course we were still worried, but somehow we also felt peace. Blood was taken from her to confirm the suspicion of pneumococcal infection and to rule out leukemia. She was also started on antibiotic therapy and was told that an improvement in her blood values was expected within 24 hours, which would show us that she was responding to the therapy. We spent eight hours in the emergency room to see whether Eva's condition stabilized and we could move to the ward, or whether she needed to be transferred to the intensive care unit. I constantly stared at the monitor and quickly learned which numbers should be how high and what should be paid attention to. I didn't know that I would be able to look into Eva's eyes for the last time for a long time. In the end they decided on the normal ward, where we were taken late in the evening. My husband went home. As we were falling asleep, the numbers on Eva's monitor began to change. I was worried and rang the bell. After going back and forth, I was offered a doctor's check-up, which I gladly accepted. The doctor came and confirmed my suspicions: Eva had to be transferred to the intensive care unit. I felt reassured and worried at the same time. At some point I had to go to sleep, which meant I had to say goodbye to Eva. I consciously placed her in God's hands and prayed next to her bed that God would be noticeably close to Eve with his angels, especially when I went to sleep. So I said goodbye to her. The next morning I got up early, had some breakfast, prayed for Eva, and then went to her. Maybe she's feeling better today, I thought. Unfortunately, what happened frequently over the next few days happened: I received bad news in the morning.

The pneumococcal infection has deposited on the brain. Eva developed a very stiff neck and always had to keep her head elevated and not to the side. More and more tubes were attached and I was told that Eva must have a hellish headache that couldn't be compared to a migraine. I've had severe migraine attacks myself, which were more than enough for me. Poor Eva, how can I help her? She lay there with her eyes closed and no longer moved. She just moaned every now and then and made sounds like I've never heard her make before. I cried, wanted to help her, didn't want to leave.

Friends wrote to us and said they were praying for us. Even though I just sat next to Eva the whole time during the day, I didn't get bored. I watched all the numbers on the various monitors, asked the doctors and nurses all sorts of questions and wanted to know why what was being done. These questions were always answered very patiently and lovingly, which gave me security. I was very amazed and am still infinitely grateful to the nurses and doctors for the time they gave me during the hectic times. Meanwhile, it was Easter Sunday and I went home to celebrate communion with my family and friends from our church and pray together for Eva. Reinvigorated, I went back to the hospital and was sure that tomorrow, on Easter Monday, I would get good news. The blood values will be good and I will be happy! However, it didn't happen that way. When I came to the ward and enthusiastically asked about the blood values, I was told that they had continued to deteriorate. I ran outside, cried and collapsed. I lay crying and weak in the hallway until a cleaning specialist lovingly sat me down on a chair. How could that be?? Have I misunderstood God? If she doesn't respond to the therapy, she will die, the doctor confirmed that to me. He also said to me that he was afraid for Eva's life. «God, you said you are powerful in the weak. You won't find anyone weaker than me on earth right now! Best opportunity for you to make yourself strong!" I prayed. My husband came and said that we must be ready to let go of Eva. Yes, we knew that if Eve left us, she would be in the most beautiful place: with God himself. But surely God promised us that she would live and be victorious?

When he went in to see her and came out a little later, he said that he felt a strong peace about Eva. A little later I also went in and carefully placed my hand on Eva's stomach. Suddenly a deep peace flowed through me and I suddenly had the certainty that Eva would live. I even got joy! Even though nothing looked like it yet, I knew that it was only a matter of time before Eva would be completely healthy again. I sang and thanked God for the healing and wanted everyone to experience the same thing as me. I wish I could pray for everyone else too, so that they could also feel God's peace in the midst of difficult times. A short time later, the nurses came to me and said that they had good news: the inflammation levels in the blood had increased, but other values had improved. The inflammation value is probably just a little behind. I was able to sleep better that night. But the very next morning, frightening news came again: Eva had suffered septic shock during the night and was on red alert; her life was in acute danger. A day later, it was discovered that not only the meninges but also the brain itself were inflamed and that consequential damage was therefore very likely. So there were emotional ups and downs over the next few days. But the certainty that Eva would recover completely remained.

Two days later, epileptic seizures were detected in the brain and the health status was sometimes better, then back to red alert. Just when you thought everything was under control, the next thing happened. For example, the following Sunday she had renewed septic shock. The values on the monitors jumped back and forth and the doctors needed a lot of wisdom to plan the next steps. An improvement here meant a worsening there, etc. I wrote an update to my church and since it was Sunday morning, they immediately prayed for her in the service. Suddenly the nurse stood there in surprise and said that, surprisingly, the situation had suddenly calmed down. For us, this was clearly a renewed sign from God of his faithfulness and his power. A few days later, to our surprise, she was suddenly allowed to leave the intensive care unit and be transferred to the normal ward.

Eva slowly woke up again. However, she could no longer open one eye. In general, she only seemed to be able to move her right hand. It was very uncertain whether she would be able to learn to move again. It was not known how much the brain was damaged and what she could and could not learn again. I was happy that she was able to feed from the breast again and swallow well. After a month in the hospital, she was sent to children's rehab. There she quickly made good progress and everyone was amazed. After a month she was able to crawl again and was already making her first attempts to walk. She learned new things every day, so we were able to go home with a prescription for physical therapy and early education. It's been a very stressful few months at home. The older siblings were really looking forward to our return, they needed me more than usual and everyone had their own special needs. We felt that we no longer had any strength. Eva suffered from the medication for epilepsy and was always crying and defiant. So we were even happier when she was allowed to stop taking the medication three months later and she started laughing again and started playing the family clown again. Physiotherapy and early education were also soon stopped. For this we are infinitely grateful to the doctors, but also to God! So there was actually only one thing left: our desire that families be able to experience the same thing, that God heals all other children, gives the parents strength, comfort and hope and that they can experience his presence as sustainably as we do. It is our wish to give hope to families in the intensive care unit.