- Stephanie’s daughter Rani, stopped breathing after choking on a piece of mango, leaving her without oxygen for 18 minutes
- While paramedics were able to bring Rani back to life, she was left with a devastating brain injury
- Surrounded by love, Rani continues to smile, laugh and inspire everyone around her
Here Stephanie MacDonald, 41, from Corindi Beach, NSW, tells her story in her own words.
Slicing up a juicy mango and an avocado into long segments, I placed them into bowls for my girls, Millie, then three, and Rani, eight months, for afternoon tea.
‘Is that yummy?’ I asked, as the girls happily munched away.
It was April 2020, and my hubby Rogan, then 41, and I had recently started Rani on solids, including soft fruits and vegies.
Using her two front teeth, she chomped right through everything we put in front of her.
Now, with Millie at the kitchen bench and Rani in her highchair, I was pleased to see them enjoying the mango.
While they were snacking, I decided to get a head start on preparing dinner.
I’d turned away for just a few seconds to gather ingredients from the pantry, when I noticed the room had fallen eerily silent.
Turning around, I was horrified to see Rani gasping for air.
I ripped my bub from her highchair, and tried desperately to scoop a piece of mango from her throat with my fingers.
But it was lodged so far back, I couldn’t reach it.
I performed a series of back blows, hoping the fruit would dislodge.
But it was still no use.
Panicking, I raced Rani to our backyard where Rogan was busily building the girls a cubby house.
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‘Help me! She’s choking!’ I wailed through tears.
While Rogan took over trying to save our girl, I dialled emergency services.
By now, Rani had stopped breathing and was turning blue.
‘Help is on its way. You need to start CPR,’ the dispatcher instructed.
Racing Rani to the front yard to meet paramedics, Rogan, who’d been trained in first aid through his work as a coal miner, took control.
While he worked on her motionless body for 18 agonising minutes, I prayed Rani would pull through.
When paramedics finally arrived, they took over.
Incredibly, they managed to dislodge the mango and bring back her pulse, but it wasn’t stable.
I sat beside my girl in the ambulance as we raced to Emerald Hospital, Qld, where doctors stabilised her.
We were then taken by a Royal Flying Doctor Service plane 829 kilometres to Queensland Children’s Hospital, arriving about 4am.
A medical team whisked Rani away for tests before placing her in an induced coma.
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Rogan and Millie drove to meet us in Brisbane the next morning, along with my parents Malcolm, 67, and Pamela, 64, who travelled from Arrawarra, NSW, to be with us.
Four agonising days later, the results were in.
‘Rani suffered a diffuse hypoxic ischemic brain injury,’ a doctor said gently.
It’s caused by a lack of oxygen to the brain and meant our baby girl may never walk, talk or eat independently again.
The next day doctors brought Rani out of her coma and, against all odds, she started breathing on her own.
Thank God you’re still with us, I thought.
Further tests confirmed our girl was a tetraplegic, meaning she couldn’t move her upper or lower body.
She was also diagnosed with dystonia, a movement disorder, and hypertonia, which causes muscle stiffness.
The brain injury also caused her to become non-verbal, and hearing and vision impaired, and she needed to be tube fed.
Despite that, her face lit up whenever Rogan or I were near.
‘We love you,’ I constantly reminded her.
Over the next nine days in ICU, we learned how to care for our beautiful girl.
After six weeks in a ward, we moved to Hummingbird House, a children’s hospice, where we could process everything that had happened as a family with Millie.
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‘Rani had an accident and needs lots of love and care,’ we explained.
Then, four weeks later, we returned home.
While Rogan returned to work, I became Rani’s full-time carer for five months until our NDIS funding came through, allowing Rani access to support workers and therapists at home.
Marrying in June 2023, Rogan and I were delighted to have our two precious daughters as flowergirls.
And for Rani’s fourth birthday that September, we were overjoyed when children’s charity Make-A-Wish got in touch to help give our girl a day to remember.
We threw a big picnic, and animal lover Rani was able to cuddle up to ducklings, bunnies and lambs.
It was the happiest I’d seen her since her world had been turned upside down.
‘This is the best birthday we’ve ever had for Rani,’ Millie beamed.
Last April, our girls were so excited to become big sisters to their little brother, Oakie.
Now five, Rani can smile and laugh, but is fully dependent on others, including support workers, nurses and therapists, for her daily care.
Through it all, Millie, now eight, has remained her best friend and biggest supporter, showering Rani in love and so many kisses.
Millie talks about being a nurse when she grows up and, after watching her dad save Rani’s life, she’s even started practising CPR on her baby dolls.
‘I want to help kids like Rani,’ Millie says.
To this day, doctors don’t know if Rani’s accident was a result of choking or a severe food allergy.
She’d tried mango once before and I hadn’t noticed a reaction.
But looking back at photos from the time, there was a mild rash around her mouth.
I never imagined a summer fruit would paralyse our girl, but we’re so grateful she’s still here with us.
She’s our little warrior!
To support Rani’s journey, visit Hope 4 Rani on Facebook
