Surgeon gives life-saving chance to girl many thought had no chance


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SALT LAKE CITY — There’s no shortage of love where 4-year-old Marlo Keller is concerned.

“She’s kind of the glue that makes everyone happy in our family,” said Candace Keller, Marlo's mother.

Even with compromised vision, and some difficulty walking, Marlo takes each step with a smile. Each step is a celebration, considering that just a year ago, Marlo couldn’t walk at all.

In August of 2012, a day before school started, Candace took her girls swimming. Afterwards, they went home and she went in to put toddler Marlo, then only 2 years old, down for a nap.

“And something told me just to stay with her a little bit longer. She’s so sweet, I just wanted to lay in there and hug her,” Candace said.

Then, a moment she will never forget.

“She let out one cry that I had never heard before, just like a startling, shrieking cry — just once. And, then she went completely limp.”

Frantic, Candace called 911 and neighbors rushed over to help with the two older daughters as Candace boarded an ambulance with her baby.


She let out one cry that I had never heard before, just like a startling, shrieking cry — just once. And, then she went completely limp.

–Candace Keller, Marlo's mother


“It’s a surreal experience because I had no idea what was going on," she said. "She’d let out these little breaths every once and a while, like I knew something was devastatingly wrong.”

Even in the ambulance, no one knew what was going on — just that this little girl’s life was on the line.

“She coded four-plus times and she was not with us for at least 15 minutes, from what we read in her charts,” said Candace. “It was a startling day, but I know if we wouldn’t have gotten her to Primary Children’s as fast as we did, she wouldn’t be with us today.”

As doctors and staff at Primary Children’s worked to deliver a diagnosis, Candace remembered a rash that Marlo had nine days earlier — a rash that had sent her to the pediatrician with questions.

“The said, 'Oh, it’s a really common, usually benign virus called parvovirus and in very rare situations, it can come up and attack the heart.' ”

That’s essentially what it did to Marlo. Doctors put her on ECMO, a heart and lung bypass machine, to give her heart time to heal. It’s grueling on the body, and it’s almost impossible to come off ECMO without any complications. If fact, Candace said only 45 percent of kids who get on ECMO are able to one day come off.

In Marlo’s case, she was able to come off ECMO after five days. But, then doctors discovered she had suffered a catastrophic brain injury affecting 80 percent of her brain function.

“We all sat in the conference room trying to decide what to do, and the options that we were given were you cannot proceed with care because this is a pretty catastrophic brain injury and she will not come out of this unscathed,” Candace said. “Or, we’re going to have to go through a pretty invasive procedure of decompressing her brain.”

Dr. Marion Walker, a 38-year veteran at the hospital, was in that meeting. Candace remembers vividly what he said.

When discussing Marlo Keller's condition, her 
mother remembers vividly what Dr. Marion 
Walker, a 38-year veteran at Primary 
Children's Hospital, said: "I looked over at 
him and he winked at me and 
said, 'There's hope for this little girl.' "
When discussing Marlo Keller's condition, her mother remembers vividly what Dr. Marion Walker, a 38-year veteran at Primary Children's Hospital, said: "I looked over at him and he winked at me and said, 'There's hope for this little girl.' "

#doc_pic

“I looked over at him and he winked at me and said, 'There’s hope for this little girl.' ”

Walker performed the procedure, essentially removing the front part of Marlo’s skull to let the brain swell and then decompress.

“Without aggressively treating her like we did, we had no chance to survive,” Walker said.

When Marlo woke up, she had lost some of her vision and use of her arms and legs. But, through physical therapy and strong will, she is walking again, smiling and happy to be alive.

“To come through something like this, you have to have something inside that’s saying, ‘I want to live,’ ” said Walker. “And somehow, Marlo has that.”

“It’s hard to put into words, but the feelings of seeing someone like this recover from such a tremendous injury to the brain — it’s just overwhelming," he said. "It’s the reason I’ve done this all these years.”

Nearly two years after that terrifying day at the hospital, the Kellers still get emotional talking about Dr. Walker and what he did for their daughter.

“Bottom line is, Marlo wouldn’t be with us today if we hadn’t been close to Primary Children’s,” said her father, Karl Keller.

While they wouldn’t wish this kind of experience on any parent, they’re grateful for the lessons it’s taught them about cherishing every moment and always looking for opportunities to help someone in need.

“You don’t get through these experiences in life alone, and we’ll be working to pay it forward for like the rest of our life,” Candace said. “But it changes who you want to be and how you want to live your life. And just to say thank you to everyone who has helped us out along the way.”

To help patients like Marlo, whose lives have been affected by Primary Children's Hospital, give generously to the KSL Radiothon at www.kslkids.com.

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