They say that true love’s kiss is one of the most powerful things on earth. And almost nothing is truer than a parent’s love for their child.
It was one of those kisses that brought Lee and Francesca Moore-Williams’ baby back from the brink of death.
When Moore-Williams’ daughter Bella was 14-months-old they noticed she was losing clumps of hair. Things from there got worse. She couldn’t properly sit up in her high chair and would slump. She also suffered from chest infections and loss of movement in her legs.
Doctors later determined that Bella had a Mitochondrial disease which was very likely to be terminal.
“We were told three times that it’s not looking like she was going to survive, so every day we were sat at her bedside praying,” Francesca told Daily Mail.
After a few days, doctors attempted to take Bella off of the ventilators to see if she could breathe on her own. But those efforts were unsuccessful.
‘The doctors didn’t want us to cling on to any hope because the signs were showing it was Mitochondrial and they weren’t expecting it to be Biotinidase deficiency as it only affects around two people in the UK every year,” Francesa said. “The days passed which was obviously very traumatic and we had the whole family by our sides.”
Eventually, the family was told to say their goodbyes as they felt Bella wouldn’t survive.
“I just kept sitting there thinking “why us?” It was heart-wrenching because you see family members that you’ve never seen cry before. I’m daddy’s little girl and I’ve never seen my dad break down before and it was just heart breaking. I now feel a lot of guilt for bringing family members there to say goodbye but I didn’t know that at the time. I will never, ever forget that moment where I had to say goodbye to my daughter.”
They took a photo with their daughter and 5-year-old son Bobby. They then kissed their sedated daughter before the ventilator was switched off.
Miraculously she began to improve about 30 minutes later.
Her oxygen levels were up to 100 percent and she started kicking and screaming. The parents were then told that their daughter would survive.
“‘It’s frozen me and it’s going to take me time to get over the ordeal – we were just sat there waiting for her to take her final breath,” Francesa explains. “But 30 minutes later her oxygen levels were back up to 100 per cent and the traumatised parents were later told Bella would survive.”
Now Bella’s deficiency is managed by four tablets she has to take a day for the rest of her life.
Doctors said they wouldn’t know if she would walk or talk.
But she doing both and feeling great.
“She’s about eight months behind where she should be but doctors are confident she will pick up quite quickly. She’s at nursery and to look at her you wouldn’t think she’s been through what she has,” Francesa says. “She made our family complete and now it’s great to see how well she is doing and when she says “mama” it just melts my heart.”
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