Secunda’s Baby Liané dies a few days after operation
She was still eating and doing well on day of her death.
Baby Liané Roux (11 months) died on Saturday afternoon, May 7, only four days after she was discharged from the Sunninghill Hospital in Gauteng where she had undergone a second operation.
Liané’s mother, Ashley Roux, took her two boys to buy food on Saturday and then quickly stopped at a friend’s house when her parents-in-law called and said she should hurry to their house.
She arrived at the house before the ambulance and there was nothing they could do for Liané.
“She just stopped breathing and collapsed,” said Ashley.
Liané’s father, Quintin Roux, was attending a money-raising event at the time.
“I don’t understand why this had to happen, we did everything we could to sort out her heart condition,” said Ashley.
Liané received the much-needed heart operation on Friday, April 22 after she waited more than seven months.
A group of experts from the Maboneng Heart and Lung Institute performed the four-hour-long operation.
Liané was born with two heart conditions namely ventricular septal defect (VSD) and dextro-transposition of the great arteries (TGA).
VSD is a hole in the heart and TGA is when the position of the two main arteries carrying blood out of the heart, the main pulmonary artery and the aorta, are switched.
Liané was recovering well after the operation and Ashley said on Friday, April 29 her baby was happy to be able to hold her toys again, that her medication was taken off and she was on 10% oxygen, but doing good.
However, she had to go back into the operating theatre on Monday, May 2 so that doctors could insert a pacemaker into her little body.
She would have carried a pacemaker permanently and the couple were told Liané’s VSC condition would have taken up to five years to heal.
She was discharged from the hospital on Wednesday, May 4 and was at home and doing well.
Liané was supposed to go back to the hospital to have a check-up with the wound specialist on May 9.
“Maybe it was just too much for her little body to handle and she died of natural causes,” said Ashley.
The doctors decided not to have an autopsy done to determine the cause of death.
“Nobody will understand how empty you feel after losing a child unless they have gone through it,” said Ashley.
It is difficult for Liané’s two brothers to understand why their sister is now gone.
“The youngest one asks me the whole time when his sister is returning from the hospital.
“I have not yet made peace with the fact that my Nay Nay is not here anymore, I miss her so much.”
A memorial service was held for Liané on Friday, May 13 at the Evander Herlewing Sentrum and a gathering was held afterwards at Our Place in Trichardt.
