Charlotte Stratford is a cheerful and courageous five-year-old. After being diagnosed with a kidney tumour early last year, Charlotte spent a lot of time at The Royal Children’s Hospital, and her charismatic character made her a hit with the nurses, doctors and staff at the RCH.

RCH physician Dr Francoise Mechinaud described Charlotte as an “autonomous” little girl.

Now in remission, Charlotte can’t wait to start her first year of primary school. And after a tough year, her dad Paul Stratford says “it’s fantastic, she’s so ready for it”.

Click below to watch the Ten News story on Charlotte.

A new form of treatment for adolescents with anorexia is making the prospect of ‘cure’ a reality.

The Royal Children’s Hospital’s (RCH) Centre for Adolescent Health commenced ‘family-based treatment’ for anorexia in 2008 and already admission rates have dropped by 56 per cent.

“Before, we were not really focused on cure because we saw that so infrequently for those who were very unwell.  Cure is now completely expected,” says Professor Susan Sawyer, Director of the RCH Centre for Adolescent Health.

The revolutionary treatment involves empowering parents to form a key part of the healing process.  Parents are encouraged to actively engage in their child’s refeeding at home by supervising every meal, even if this takes hours of support and encouragement.

The idea is to create an understanding and dialogue within the family unit that externalises the disease – families affirm that it is “the anorexia” that is preventing the teenager from eating or compelling them to exercise or purge; the teenager themself is not to blame.

Whilst the program is intensive, it is achieving remarkable results.  Many teenagers are weight restored within six months.

RCH clinical nurse consultant Stephanie Campbell says it is important to deal with the weight first, as this will improve a patient’s mental health.

“It’s all about weight restoration.  It’s getting the parents on board and empowering them to refeed,” Ms Campbell said.

“At the beginning patients will say that 80 to 90 per cent of my thoughts are about eating or food, it’s all consuming.  And at the end of the six months, they’ll say maybe 10 per cent,” she said.

Traditional treatment of anorexia was a revolving door of patients being admitted to hospital, fed with supervision from a clinician or through a nasal gastric tube, then sent home for outpatient psychological treatment.  The patient would invariably be readmitted to hospital numerous times a year with recovery taking an average of seven years.

Family-based treatment has seen readmission rates at the RCH drop 75 per cent with 97 per cent of those who complete the program recovering fully.

The program is supported by a grant from the Baker Foundation, with $3 million in recurrent funding promised by the state government in the 2010 election.

Click here to read the Sunday Age story.

RCH patient Samuel Hall

At just three-weeks-old Samuel Hall’s tiny heart suddenly failed. Fortunately the intuition of his mum, Suzanne Hall, and the work of Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH) medical staff, including cardiac surgeon Igor Konstantinov, meant that Samuel had a speedy recovery.

The little boy was rushed to RCH Emergency after his mum Suzanne noticed symptoms including a change in his breathing. Just hours later he suffered a cardiac arrest and was in the RCH Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU), he was then placed on a bypass machine. The following day Samuel went into surgery to repair what doctors found to be severe aortic stenosis, a condition where the heart’s Aortic Valve is thickened and narrowed, restricting flow to the aorta.

Samuel will need surgery later in life but the three-month-old is now a happy and bubbly little boy.

Click below to watch the Seven News story on Samuel.

Roy with his mum Tina Barake. Photo courtesy of the Herald Sun.

It took a remarkable operation to cure Roy Barake’s rare form of epilepsy, known as infantile spasms. A just four-months-old Roy started having seizures, and eventually he was plagued by up to 80 spasms a day.

“It’s rare, but it’s a devastating type of seizure disorder,” said Royal Children’s Hospital’s director of neurology, Assoc Prof Andrew Kornberg.

RCH director of neurosurgery Wirginia Maixner and children’s epilepsy program director Dr Simon Harvey performed the extraordinary operation, where a huge section of the four-year-old boy’s brain was removed.

His parents were told Roy could lose vital functions, but this was the best chance of a normal life.

Prof Kornberg described the outcome as exceptional. Tests revealed Roy’s brain functions have not been affected by the operation. He said he was so optimistic Roy had experienced his last seizure that he discharged him.

“We thought that our child might not even be able to say our name or sit up, we are really blessed to have this outcome,” Mrs Barake said.

Roy is just like any other boy his age, his parents say. “We are just thrilled. He’s also planning to start kindergarten next week.”

Click here to read the full Herald Sun story.

Nikolas and his brother Giorgios. Photo courtesy of the Sunday Herald Sun.

Giorgios Papatratis is one brave 10-year-old. Today he is giving his little brother the best gift in the world, the gift of life.

Little 21-month-old Nikolas Papastratis, a patient at The Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH) was diagnosed with an agressive form of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) called MLL. After doctors found he wasn’t responding to chemotherepy his parents, Stel and Andrea, were tested as possible bone-marrow donors. However, it was older brother Giorgios that was a perfect match.

“The doctors said, ‘wow’. No one could believe it,” said Andrea.

“If he wasn’t a match we’d have to go to the international bone-marrow bank, but you wouldn’t ever get a perfect match and it can take months and months that we don’t have.”

“This small kid will give a beautiful gift to his brother and I have to insist that it’s a big deal to be under general anaesthetic to give marrow,” said RCH bone-marrow transplant physician Francoise Mechinaud.

The next month is critical, during which the family will pray, hope and will that their youngest child does not develop graft-versus-host disease, when the donated tissue is rejected, or contract the toxic veno-occlusive disease of the liver.

“It’s the ultimate gift you can give anyone, let alone your brother, giving them life,” said Stel.

Click here to read the full Sunday Herald Sun story, and to leave a message of support for the Papastratis family.

Little Amelia Broomfield is finally in remission and home for Christmas after being diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML) in May 2011. After a year in and out of The Royal Children’s Hospital, Amelia will be celebrating Christmas with her family, including her five siblings, in their hometown of Colac. The family spend a great deal of time sharing their Christmas spirit by decorating their house in an array of lights and colourful ornaments.

Click below to watch Amelia’s story on Channel Seven News