Aussie family's cry for help as baby girl fights for life in Bali hospital
Lucky was rushed to hospital on Tuesday in Bali after struggling to breathe.
A holiday in paradise has turned into a living nightmare for an Australian family whose seven-week-old baby girl is in a Bali hospital fighting for her life.
The Melbourne family rushed Lucky to hospital on Tuesday evening when they noticed her breathing became laborious as she gasped for air.
"She basically went into upper respiratory distress," family friend Bailey Scarlett told Yahoo News Australia.
After incubating the newborn and putting her on a ventilator, doctors desperately scrambled to understand what caused such a severe reaction.
Family desperately seeking medical advice
According to Ms Scarlett, who is in Bali with the family, the hospital staff speculate it could be an acute case of pneumonia that is causing Lucky's lungs to shut down, but are "not 100% sure what she's fighting", and subsequently are unsure what antibiotics to give her.
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Despite having a specialist consultant residing nearby, the family are unable to call on their expertise due to legal reasons. There is another consulting team in the area but they are also unavailable due to that hospital being at full capacity.
In a desperate search for answers Ms Scarlett has taken to social media to find a paediatric pulmonary specialist located "anywhere" to offer assistance.
She continues to forward medical notes to any health professional capable of helping, with the family discussing the case with specialist doctors in Australia, Sri Lanka, Switzerland and Singapore.
"We're trying to liaise with as many brains as possible," she told Yahoo, expressing the family's hope to spread the message of their baby girl's illness.
Another family friend has created a GoFundMe page in an attempt to raise funds to help with medical costs. At the moment, each day is costing upwards of $8,000 to have Lucky in the hospital in Bali.
Baby's medical treatment limited in Bali
The family are of the opinion the Indonesian health system is "not equipped to deal with cases as severe as this" and shared their frustration that a suitable ventilator designed for newborns is broken.
Ms Scarlett's nanny has also been a translator between medical staff and the family in attempt to remove as many barriers in the way of Lucky's treatment.
There have been discussions about possibly air lifting the family to Singapore for treatment, however, medical staff are not confident Lucky's lungs would be capable of dealing with the altitude, further limiting her treatment options.
With no previous health issues in the young baby's life, the family are "shattered" but are trying their best to remain positive for their baby.
"We try to come into the room really happy and uplifted. She feels that energy. We laugh and we talk and sing to her, and we play her music," Ms Scarlett said.
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