Dubai: For 19 days, Baby Margarida touched the hearts of hundreds of thousands as she battled for her life at the City Hospital after being born prematurely at just 25 weeks. On Sunday morning, however, her journey ended after a series of complications.
“At 11am in Dubai and 7am in Portugal, our warrior left us. We will have an Angel in heaven looking for the G family. Thank you all for your unconditional support,” Eugenia Queiroz, Margarida’s mother, wrote on the family’s Facebook page.
The Facebook page in Portuguese called “Vamos ajudar a Genny e a Gui” (Let us Help Genny and Gui) was put up on October 28 with an aim to appeal for help, be it financial or moral, from the public. More than 130,000 people have been following baby Margarida’s story from day one, including footballer Cristiano Ronaldo.
Ronaldo shared Margarida’s Help Page with his more than 101 million followers on Facebook on November 6 with his post which read “Let’s all support baby Margarida. No help is too small.”
Baby Margarida, whom the family fondly calls Gui, was delivered via emergency Caesarean section at 6.23pm on October 28 after Eugenia developed an acute case of pre-eclampsia.
Baby Margarida was extremely underweight at just 410 grams. Babies at 25 weeks usually weigh around 600 grams.
“A fully developed baby will fit in your arm. My baby’s full body can fit in my hand, just one hand,” Goncalo, Margarida’s father, told Gulf News in an earlier interview.
Baby Margarida stayed at the neonatal ICU of the City Hospital for 18 days and gained much-needed weight.
“Today you are 18 days old. Congratulations my daughter! You weigh 620grams,” Eugenia wrote on Saturday.
Goncalo said baby Margarida’s brain scans were fine but doctors found an opening in the vein to her heart. They then administered drugs to help close the gap.
Baby Margarida’s condition remained critical for days as her kidneys were not working, she also couldn’t excrete waste, increasing her chances of infections.
“Doctors say it only depends on her. She had a new brain scan and we are waiting for results. These altered values can be harmful to the brain, heart and lungs. It will be another night of uncertainty,” Eugenia said on Saturday.
The Portuguese parents were earlier desperate to transfer baby Margaruida to an affordable neonatal bed in a government hospital for her to continue to develop. But no beds were available at the time, Goncalo said.
The Facebook page helped raise money from all over the world of which Dh150,000 has been paid to the hospital.
