A young couple welcomed two children a year apart. After becoming a family of four, things fell apart when they noticed something was wrong with their youngest child.An Australian couple, Tioni and Jake Laidlaw share two children, a son, Mason, whom they welcomed in January 2021, and a daughter, Zarliah (Zarli), who was born in October 2022.
Tioni and Jake’s eldest child, Mason, is two years old, and their last born is eight months old. Zarli’s first few days into the world were smooth sailing until a certain point. She started vomiting uncontrollably while her older brother came down with a cold, so their mother believed it was only that: a cold.
In a July 2023 interview, Tioni revealed: “[Zarli] couldn’t stop vomiting, and I was worried that she was getting dehydrated, so I took her to Emergency.” Upon arrival, doctors ran a series of blood tests and a chest x-ray, suspecting it might be an infection.
“I thought the vomiting might be caused by her body having a reaction to the extra mucus in her stomach,” the concerned mother explained. However, her daughter’s health continued to decline, and she realized there was more to it.
Doctors and nurses also showed concern and continued running tests to determine what made the infant sick. Tioni shared there were a few nights at the hospital where Zarli’s heart rate dropped significantly, and she struggled to breathe.Things reached a point where her baby even stopped breathing altogether and started to choke on her vomit. She pressed the call button, and doctors rushed into the room, saving Zarli’s life.
She was later transferred to a larger hospital in Melbourne, where she had a CT scan done. Tioni and her husband Jake learned their then-five-month-old baby girl had a tumor inside her skull. Within half an hour of arrival, Zarli underwent emergency surgery to relieve pressure from her brain.
Zarli Had Little Chance of Survival
Two days after the surgery, surgeons reoperated to remove the mass. They could only remove two-thirds of the tumor, and one surgeon revealed it would be risky to have it entirely removed.Following the operation, the tumor shockingly grew back at a rapid pace. It built more pressure on Zarli’s brain, which affected her breathing, heart rate, swallowing, facial functions, and eye movements.
Tioni shared doctors told them that her fate was now “In the hands of the gods.” Luckily, she and her spouse Jake prayed, remained hopeful, and believed God would intervene and help their daughter fight.
Following biopsy results, in April 2023, Zarli was diagnosed with a rare, aggressive brain tumor called Atypical Teratoid Rhabdoid Tumor (AT/RT), and there was only one in three chances that she would make it.But little Zarli responded well to chemotherapy, making her parents, both Creswick, Victoria residents, hopeful. They were in awe of her progress, and doctors said it was “a miracle” that she pulled through. Two weeks later, Zarli’s tumor shrunk miraculously.
Doctors Were Stunned by Zarli’s Fighting Spirit
“Doctors were shocked. ‘Are we looking at the right baby scans?’ said one to another,” Tioni divulged. Her daughter underwent a second surgery, and this time, the doctors were fairly certain they had removed all of the tumor.
However, Tioni acknowledged that the battle was far from over because the tumor can leave some “crumbs” behind. It could go into remission with surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation combined. But radiation therapy would be too risky for Zarli because she is still young and her brain is still developing.
In a July 14, 2023, Facebook post, Tioni revealed her child had been receiving treatment at the Royal Children’s Hospital. She added that at the end of the year, she and her family would be traveling to the US, where Zarli will receive proton therapy that is only available in Florida and is safer for someone her age.The mother of two noted that the traveling would come with financial challenges as they will be there for two months. Fortunately, the Australian government has funding that supports these rare cases, though it only pays for the patient and one parent.
But because the Laidlaw family desires to travel together, they have opened a GoFundMe page where they have received over $22,000 in donations as of this writing. The couple’s sister-in-law, Carina Laidlaw, who is in charge of the page, gave followers an update on July 27, 2023.
Carina said little Zarli recently turned nine months old and is continuing the fight following her latest round of chemotherapy. The family is spending less time at the hospital because of her flawless progress. She is stable, and her personality shines through.