Cati’s story

This is Cati, one of Pelican ward’s dedicated cardiac nurses. Today she works in the hospital that supporters like you helped to build, with equipment that people like you help provide, alongside play specialists and an emotional wellbeing team that your donations fund. But Cati’s relationship with the Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospital for Wales started very differently.

Cati was diagnosed with a curvature in her neck at her mum, Dawn‘s, 20 week scan. It was a worrying time for the family, but what awaited them was far worse.

Baby Cati was born seemingly otherwise healthy and at a week old, she returned to hospital for an MRI scan to assess the extent of her scoliosis – the curvature in her neck.

As Dawn sat in the corner of the room feeding Cati while she waited for news of the results, a team of professionals entered. In hushed, concerned tones, and without noticing Dawn, they were discussing Cati’s MRI. It didn’t take Dawn long to realise that they were not talking about the scoliosis and that the news wasn’t good.

The MRI had revealed a number of serious and complex heart defects, the extent of which the team hadn’t seen before. Cati had a large hole in her heart, misaligned arteries, valves that overlapped and straddled each other and a narrowed aorta.

With further test revealing that Cati’s oxygen levels were dangerously low, there was no time to waste. At just three weeks old, Cati underwent the first of many major operations. What followed was a childhood marked with hospital stays, open-heart surgeries, and countless procedures.

Cati wasn’t able to consume food orally until she was a year old and at five, she had her third major operation to replumb her heart. But her journey wasn’t only about physical endurance. As she grew older, Cati’s scoliosis became harder to accept. Strangers would ask her what was wrong with her neck and in school, she faced comments that chipped away at her confidence.

But Cati grew to regard her scars as symbols of survival, not as flaws. And instead of feeling sadness about a childhood spent in hospital, she took it as inspiration – to become a nurse at the Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospital for Wales herself.

Cati says: “I loved coming to the children’s hospital and seeing the nurses and play specialists. I’d look forward to it and ask my mum when I was going next. I can remember making friends and playing with the toys in the waiting area and proudly showing everyone my scar.

“I was in awe of the nurses and knew from very early on that I wanted to be one myself. It was my dream to come back to Pelican ward, where I was cared for, as a cardiac nurse. I wanted to give back to the other children because of my own background.”

Cati has now been a qualified nurse for over a year, working with the cardiac team who once cared for her. Her lead clinician, Professor Uzun, still calls Cati his ‘miracle child.’”

Cati’s future is still uncertain and she is currently on a waiting list for a heart transplant, But she refuses to let it define her, choosing instead to focus on her plans to travel and become the leading cardiac liaison nurse at Noah’s Ark.

As supporters of the Noah’s Ark Charity, you too have played a role in Cati’s journey, helping to build a hospital that had all the specialities Cati needed under one roof. Noah’s Ark supporters helped fund the machines that monitored and cared for Cati’s heart from the moment she was diagnosed and the play team that have made Cati’s childhood memories of

hospital stays, happy ones. It’s this that inspired Cati to return as an adult and dedicate her life to giving back to the hospital that once saved hers.

Cati appears in the Noah’s Ark Charity 25th Birthday celebration video. To watch it, and to donate to our 25th birthday appeal, click here.