After surviving open-heart surgery and a battle with the coronavirus, a six-month-old baby girl received a "Guard of Honor" from doctors and nurses as she was discharged from a hospital in Liverpool, England.
According to ABC News, Erin Bates was born on Oct. 8. Her parents, Emma and Wayne, who had been trying to start a family for a decade, called Erin their "miracle child."
Unfortunately, shortly after she was born, Erin was diagnosed with a heart condition called Tetralogy of Fallot. In December, Erin was admitted to Alder Hey Children's Hospital and underwent successful open-heart surgery — but a long and grueling recovery remained.
Erin was still in the hospital during the second week of April, when doctors noticed she looked uncomfortable. She was also running a fever. Doctors tested Erin for the coronavirus, and two days later, the tests came back positive.
Though Emma Bates never tested positive for the virus, doctors suggested she quarantine with her daughter for two weeks. She told The Guardian that the NHS health care workers who cared for her and her child were "truly amazing."
On April 24, Erin and her mother were finally moved out of isolation. Both daughter and mother were greeted with a guard of honor by the medical staff at Alder Hey.
"It just meant so much to me," Bates said to ABC News. "And it means that these doctors and nurses they're not just there to make your children better but they actually care. They really care about your children."
Erin will remain at the hospital for up to six months as she regains the strength to breathe on her own. Her father, hasn't seen her since she went into isolation, and won't be able to see her until she is released from the hospital.
"He's really missing her but he understands why," Emma Bates told ABC News. "We've got to try to protect the nurses and protect the people and patients inside the hospital so we understand why the rules are in place."
