Mum's emotional plea to parents after newborn baby's death
The mother of a baby boy, who tragically died after a tough battle with an extremely rare disease, has made an emotional plea for parents to trust their instincts when it comes to the health of their children.
Kristy and Josh Fiorini, from South Morang in Victoria, had the devastating task of laying their 10-week-old son to rest on Thursday.
Baby Jordan was born on July 17 with Total Intestinal Aganglionosis (TIA), a disease characterised by a lack of nerve cells in the intestines, which prevents muscle movement and causes faeces to back up and obstruct the bowel.
Kristy first had the inkling something was wrong when Jordan didn’t make his first bowel movement in his first 48 hours.
“Alarm bells started ringing then,” she told Yahoo7. “Then he did a big vomit – it was green – and it got a bit more serious.”
A series of scans showed a blockage in his bowels and at three days old, Jordan was transferred to Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital.
After undergoing surgery and 17 intestinal biopsies, doctors were finally able to diagnose Jordan with TIA.
Kristy distinctly remembers the moment doctors told her TIA was a fatal disease with no known cure.
“That moment haunts us to be honest.”
“At the point in time we were both just so shocked we didn’t know what to say. When the surgeon walked out the door we just both broke down in tears. I’d never seen my husband cry before,” Kristy told Yahoo7.
At eight weeks old, Jordan developed an infection in his intestines, which spread to his bloodstream and caused him to become gravely ill.
When Kristy and Josh were given the devastating choice to take Jordan home or keep him in hospital, they jumped at the chance bring him home.
Tragically, doctors didn’t expect Jordan to survive more than an hour away from the hospital.
“He was super, super strong,” Kristy said of her boy. “They didn’t think he was going to live an hour after he got home and his heart was still beating strong 10 days later.”
On September 27, 10 days after leaving hospital, Jordan took his last breath while wrapped in his mother’s arms.
Incredibly, just seconds before, Jordan’s older brother Taylor walked into the room and made a startling announcement.
“He walked into the bedroom and said: ‘Jordan’s going now’.”
Surrounded by loved ones, Jordan Fiorini was farewelled on Thursday with an emotional funeral attended by more than 200 people.
“It was extremely emotional and heartbreaking, but I was really pleased with how beautiful the ceremony was,” Kristy said.
“[Jordan] had such a strong personality. He hated his feet being touched. He loved being cuddled and movement. He loved music. He was a social butterfly,” Kristy recalled.
Taylor, who turned three the day after his little brother’s funeral, often asks his parents where Jordan is.
“We just tell him the truth,” Kristy said. “‘Baby Jordan wasn’t well and he’s gone now’. He knows he was sick, but he doesn’t understand the finality of it.”
Kristy wants other parents to be aware of the “importance of their baby’s first poo”.
“Trust your maternal or paternal instincts and if you think that something isn’t right, follow it up.”
The couple, who have known each other since high school, started a GoFundMe page to raise money for Jordan’s funeral.
In just three days, the target of $7000 had been smashed with nearly $15,000 raised.
“We have been feeling really flat about ‘why were these cards dealt to us’,” Kristy said.
“But the generosity has put a little bit of faith in the world again.”
