Gabriella's Story

When Gabriella entered the world 14 weeks early, her parents weren't sure what would happen...

Charmain Habjan and her partner Sean Amos could never have imagined spending 122 days at Ronald McDonald House Canberra with their daughter, Gabriella. Unfortunately, that was their reality after their baby girl decided to join the world 14 weeks early.

The parents, originally from Goulburn, said having a place to stay close to Gabriella, the support of the staff and the many community donations got them through. “At the start when she was in a humidi crib, I wanted to be there right on the hour every hour, and I wouldn’t have been able to do that if we were at home”, Charmain added. "Not knowing anyone in Canberra would have made that even harder because I would have been coming back and forth with nowhere to stay”.

During their long and difficult stay in the house, Gabriella was also diagnosed with Chronic Lung Disease caused by prematurity. Reflecting on their time in the House, Charmain and Sean said while knowing of the charity, they couldn’t have imagined the extend of support offered to families like themselves.

“Something like this comes out of nowhere and you don’t realise the support and help you get from places like this,” Sean said. While Gabriella is making improvements every day, Charmain admits she was not feeling so sure for a long time. “It was only in the last six weeks that I started feeling like ‘I am going home with my baby girl’” she said.

Little Gabriella and her parents are now home and enjoying life.  They left our House on the 23^rd October, four months after she was born.