Sarah Thompson is an 8 year old girl who attends Hopkinson Elementary. To everyone’s shock, Sarah was rushed by ambulance to Children’s Hospital of Orange County on Friday July 3rd due to a catastrophic cardiac episode – a virus had attacked her heart completely out of the blue.
A team of doctors and nurses at CHOC performed CPR on her for an hour and 45 minutes and worked tirelessly to keep her alive. The first surgery was performed that night which helped reduce the swelling due to the infection, drained fluid that had accumulated and took a biopsy as well as pictures of Sarah’s heart. She was placed on life support as the doctors tried desperately to come up with a plan to save her. The heart and lung machine she was on – called an ECMO – transfers the blood from the child’s heart by using a pump to push the blood through tubes to a machine that pumps oxygen into it and removes the carbon dioxide. Next the blood is warmed to body temperature and finally is put back into the child’s body. This all takes place while the machine breathes for the patient. CHOC is the only hospital in California with such a machine. Through continued prayers from all, an amazing team at CHOC and Sarah being such a fighter, after six days, she was strong enough to be taken off of the life support machine. A second surgery was performed to repair the main arteries of her heart. Sarah was intubated and placed in a medically-induced sleep in order to keep her stable and allow time for her body and heart to heal.
Sarah is slowly getting stronger every day. She is off of the ECMO machine, they have removed the oxygen mask as well as the feeding tube and she has started physical therapy.
The team of doctors and nurses at CHOC refer to her as their “Miracle Girl.” They are so incredibly proud that they were able to save her life and they’re amazed at her recovery.
But they are quick to point out that she has a long, difficult road ahead of her.
She will be moved from CHOC soon and be transferred to a Kaiser hospital in Los Angeles (due to insurance requirements), where she will continue her rehabilitation.
Sarah has always been a healthy, happy, active child until this virus attacked her.
She is a fearless competitor on the soccer field, and can always be found climbing anything high! She loves animals, her Girl Scout Troop and is a friend to all.
She especially idolizes her big sister Kaylee.
Her parents – Eric & Kristen Thompson, were both raised in Seal Beach/Rossmoor and have been members of our community for most of their lives.
As you can imagine, the financial implications of Sarah’s hospital stay will be an additional stress on the Thompson family. Please consider contributing to help Kristen and Eric in this difficult time. We will be hosting a fundraiser at Old Ranch Country Club on Wednesday July 29th from 5–8 p.m. ALL are welcome – you do not need to be a member to attend – Old Ranch has opened the event up to everyone.
We hope you will join us to celebrate such a courageous little girl and show the family how our entire community is behind them!
