When Canberra doctors first saw four-day-old Santa Madalena Rebelo, from East Timor, they measured her life expectancy in hours but just three months later she is healthy and returning home for Christmas.
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Santa was septicemic and her belly was covered with cling wrap in an attempt to keep her intestines from spilling out of her body. She was born with gastroschisis, a birth defect in which organs protrude from the body through a defect on one side of the umbilical cord.
In Australia, more than 95 per cent of babies born with gastroschisis survive, but in East Timor her mother was told surgeons did not have the equipment or expertise to perform the operation that would save her life.
Australian National University medical school Associate Professor of Paediatric Surgery David Croaker said Santa (who's saintly name is apt for a Christmas homecoming) arrived in Canberra at the last possible moment and was lucky to be alive. ''We almost lost her because of the overwhelming infection and we had to wait to operate until she stabilised,'' Dr Croacker said.
Under a partnership agreement between the Canberra Hospital and Rotary Oceanic Medical Aid for Children, which helps children from developing countries suffering severe medical conditions, Santa and her mother were flown to Australia so the little girl could receive life-saving treatment.
Australian immigration officials approved medical visas for Santa and her mother in record time so that they could travel to Canberra for treatment.
Santa has put on more than 1kg since her surgery and will fly back to East Timor on Monday.
Speaking through an interpreter to The Canberra Times, Santa's mother, Maria Rebelo, said she could never fully express how grateful she was to the people who saved her baby's life.
''I am so glad and so thankful. She is so beautiful,'' the 32-year-old said. ''She's so big now because she is better.''
Mrs Rebelo's husband and 10-year-old son were eagerly awaiting the pair's return in East Timor. ''We are the Christmas present,'' she said.
Dr Croaker said the little girl was unlikely to have any complications despite being born premature, with more than 1m of intestine and one ovary outside the abdominal cavity.
''She's great - she's eating, sleeping, pooing, crying, smiling - just doing what babies do,'' he said.
The doctors and nurses who saved baby Santa will have a chance to say goodbye at the East Timor embassy tomorrow.
