Pope Francis' doctor shares details of final moments
Pope Francis' doctor has opened up about the late pontiff's final moments.
The 88-year-old pope passed away on Easter Monday (21.04.25) after suffering a stroke and heart failure and Sergio Alfieri, his chief surgeon, revealed he failed to respond to any stimuli from medical staff as he lay in a coma with his eyes open before his death.
He told Italian outlet Corriere Della Sera: 'On Monday at about 5:30 Massimiliano Strappetti [the pope's private nurse] called me [saying]: 'The Holy Father is very ill, we must return to Gemelli [hospital]'.
'I pre-alerted everyone and 20 later I was there in Santa Marta.
'I entered his room and his eyes were open. I noticed that he had no breathing problems and then I tried to call him but he didn't answer.
'He didn't respond to stimuli, not even painful ones. At that moment I understood that there was nothing more to be done. He was in a coma.
'Strappetti knew that the Pope wanted to die at home, when we were at the Gemelli he always said so.
'He passed away shortly after.
'I remained there with Massimiliano, Andrea, the other nurses and the secretaries; then they all arrived and Cardinal Parolin asked us to pray and we recited the rosary with him. I felt privileged and now I can say that I was.
'That morning I gave him a caress as a last farewell.'
Francis will become the first Pope in more than half a century to not be buried in the crypt of St Peter's Basilica within the Vatican, in accordance with his wishes, and will instead be laid to rest in Rome's Basilica of St Mary Major.
Francis' final testament, which has been released by the Vatican, stated he wished to break with tradition and be buried in Rome's Basilica of Saint Mary Major and "without particular decoration", and that his resting place bore the inscription Franciscus, his papal name in Latin.
He wrote: "As I sense the approaching twilight of my earthly life, and with firm hope in eternal life, I wish to set out my final wishes solely regarding the place of my burial.
"Throughout my life, and during my ministry as a priest and bishop, I have always entrusted myself to the Mother of Our Lord, the Blessed Virgin Mary. For this reason, I ask that my mortal remains rest - awaiting the day of the Resurrection - in the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major.
"I wish my final earthly journey to end precisely in this ancient Marian sanctuary, where I would always stop to pray at the beginning and end of every Apostolic Journey, confidently entrusting my intentions to the Immaculate Mother, and giving thanks for her gentle and maternal care.
"I ask that my tomb be prepared in the burial niche in the side aisle between the Pauline Chapel (Chapel of the Salus Populi Romani) and the Sforza Chapel of the Basilica, as shown in the attached plan.
"The tomb should be in the ground; simple, without particular ornamentation, bearing only the inscription: Franciscus.
"The cost of preparing the burial will be covered by a sum provided by a benefactor, which I have arranged to be transferred to the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major. I have given the necessary instructions regarding this to Cardinal Rolandas Makrickas, Extraordinary Commissioner of the Liberian Basilica. "May the Lord grant a fitting reward to all those who have loved me and who continue to pray for me. The suffering that has marked the final part of my life, I offer to the Lord, for peace in the world and for fraternity among peoples."
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The Age
04-06-2025
- The Age
‘I view things differently now': The Socceroos' next big thing is back, and even better than before
'I don't take things for granted. Even a single training session, I grab it with both hands. I have worked on many muscle groups which I didn't really think were so important. I worked on and understood how my body works even better than before. I made new friends, and I started watching basketball twice a week, watching the EuroLeague. So it was actually good fun. 'If I had to decide, I would not get injured, but getting injured, at least I made it worthwhile. You've got to take it on the chin, focus on yourself, become a better athlete – which I think I've become.' When Circati began on his road to recovery, the staff at the rehab centre he attended in Bologna asked him: what's your goal? His answer was twofold: make it back onto the pitch before the end of the Serie A season, and be fit for the Socceroos' crucial June window to help them clinch World Cup qualification. That was doubly important because Thursday night's clash with Japan – in which a win would seal a spot at the 2026 World Cup for Australia – is at Optus Stadium in Perth, his hometown. Though he wasn't born there, that's where he grew up; his father Gianfranco moved to Perth in 1998 to play for the Glory in the old National Soccer League, and while he only spent a season with them, he loved it so much he migrated permanently eight years later. Circati has ticked both boxes. At club level, his return was initially being handled with caution, with the 22-year-old an unused substitute for six games once he was deemed fit enough to make a match-day squad – until a string of results below them on the Serie A table put Parma at heightened relegation risk, forcing them to break glass in case of emergency for their final two fixtures, and bring in a player who has been dubbed 'the wall of Parma' by Italian media. 'My dream was to play in Serie A, but I don't feel like I've done it yet.' Alessandro Circati 'That's when things started to change,' Circati said. 'The coach came up to me, and he goes, 'How much are you able to play?'' Both games were pivotal, and Circati was pivotal in them. Against Napoli, he drew a foul deep in stoppage time from Giovanni Simeone which saw a penalty awarded against Parma in the same passage of play overturned. It finished 0-0, meaning the eventual Italian champions had to wait to be crowned. 'It's also worse when they celebrate in your home stadium, so that's what we didn't want,' Circati said. 'It felt good to deny them.' In Parma's final game, away to Atalanta, was more 'hectic', in his words. Stung by two counter-attacking goals despite largely controlling the game, Parma were 2-0 down at half-time, and needed a draw from the match to confirm their safety in the top league. 'We went into the change rooms at half-time … we looked at ourselves in the eyes, and we said we're gonna come back,' he said. 'Two goals, very doable. We went out, we took it goal by goal. We weren't too worked up. The first one led to the second, and then the second led to the third, and then there you go. It's probably the best comeback I've actually been a part of in my life in football. I've never come back from 2-0 down and won 3-2. Big satisfaction.' His deployment was a vote of major confidence from manager Cristian Chivu, who replaced Fabio Pecchia – the coach who oversaw Circati's first-team integration as they won Serie B last season – in February. 'When the coach changed, obviously, it gives you a bit of self-doubt,' Circati said. 'He doesn't know who you are, I'm out until the back end of the season … but hats off to Chivu because he knew who I was, he watched previous games, and he welcomed me with two arms open.' Pecchia had handed Circati a start in Parma's first four games of the season, before he went down with the ACL – the highlight of which was a 2-1 win at home over another Italian giant, AC Milan. That's the team his family supports. 'I had my uncle in the grandstand with an AC Milan scarf on,' he said. 'I flipped him off. When the final whistle blew, it was one of my happiest moments to this day. Huge sense of relief, where we can belong – we belong in that league.' The Socceroos also changed coach during Circati's injury lay-off, but to one he was familiar with: Tony Popovic (and his assistant Hayden Foxe) was at Perth Glory when he was a youth player before he departed for Italy. Popovic's initial plan was to leave him out for this squad – Circati would have checked into camp anyway and watched the Japan game from the stands on his off-season trip home – but given how good he looked for Parma, it was a no-brainer to bring him in and stiffen up his back three, which is weakened in the absence of Harry Souttar and Hayden Matthews through injury. 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'It's that simple,' he said. 'It's a big ambition, a big dream, but that is my goal.' Circati watched every game of the last World Cup in Qatar and was blown away by not only Australia's campaign, but what it did for the country. 'You breathe a different air, watching the World Cup,' he said. 'Wherever you are, it's a different environment, an event that brings everyone together – a whole nation, many nations together. It's amazing vibes. And I'm very proud of them, what they did. It's the best a Socceroos team has done to this day.'
The Advertiser
26-05-2025
- The Advertiser
'Your Pippa is still alive': mum's health reform plea
Almost three years after their critically ill toddler's "preventable" and tragic hospital death, her family wants to light a fire of change. Pippa Mae White died from sepsis in June 2022, weeks before her third birthday, after being transferred to Orange Hospital in the NSW central west. "It is very evident to us that our daughter Pippa should not have died," her mother Annah White said on Monday outside an inquest into the girl's tragic death. The inquest, resuming this week, has heard of multiple healthcare failures including understaffing, a lack of training, missed opportunities for escalation and a dismissal of her concerns as a parent, Ms White said. She took Pippa to hospital in Cowra on June 12, about three days after she began experiencing a high temperature, vomiting and diarrhoea. Eventually transferred to Orange, an experienced pediatrician believed Pippa was "getting better" after reading notes from a doctor at Cowra. But Ms White testified that at the time her daughter was "lethargic" and vomiting fluids given to her. At Orange Base Hospital, tests revealed the toddler had pneumonia with a complete white-out of her left lung. But further delays occurred before she suffered two cardiac arrests and died about 12.30pm on June 13. Speaking besides a portrait of her daughter wearing a dress of her favourite colour, yellow, Ms White asked those within the packed courtroom on Monday to consider Pippa as someone in their life they loved dearly. "Now, imagine this tragic death occurred to your Pippa," she said. "How does that make you feel? Hold onto that feeling. "I hope hearing about Pippa's last moments during this inquest lights a fire deep inside you to fight for change - because your Pippas are still alive." The family has suggested mandatory sepsis training, better resourcing of emergency departments and a system for patient, family or carer escalation such as Queensland's Ryan's Rule or Western Australia's Aishwarya's Care Call. Ryan Saunders died of an undiagnosed streptococcal infection in 2007, with his parents feeling their vocal concerns about his condition were not acted on in time by Rockhampton hospital staff. Parental advocacy not being acted upon was also raised after two-year-old Joe Massa died of a cardiac arrest at Sydney's Northern Beaches Hospital in September. He was wrongly triaged and waited two hours for a hospital bed, his parents say. Seven-year-old Aishwarya Aswath died of sepsis on Easter Saturday 2021, hours after presenting to the Perth Children's Hospital emergency department with a fever and unusually cold hands. Her parents had pleaded with clinicians to escalate care. Pippa's inquest on Monday heard from the registered nurse who triaged the toddler at Cowra hospital and noted she had a very high heart rate. Nikota Potter-Bancroft said she put this down to Pippa's anxiety because she seemed upset and did not want the hospital staff to touch her. She was shown a phone video taken of the toddler struggling to breath and grunting 10 minutes before her assessment. Ms Potter-Bancroft said she did not remember seeing Pippa in that way. "Don't you accept that if she was breathing in that manner ... that was a serious failure on your part not to notice that?" the Whites' barrister Richard O'Keefe SC asked. "Not necessarily because I didn't see it," Ms Potter-Bancroft replied. The nurse admitted she had not looked at the hospital's pediatric sepsis pathway when assessing Pippa. But she denied the toddler met the criteria or required a rapid response. The courtroom was packed with Pippa's family and friends who travelled to Sydney for the inquest. Outside court, Ms White described them as "Pip's army" who were all equally broken and shattered. The inquest continues. Almost three years after their critically ill toddler's "preventable" and tragic hospital death, her family wants to light a fire of change. Pippa Mae White died from sepsis in June 2022, weeks before her third birthday, after being transferred to Orange Hospital in the NSW central west. "It is very evident to us that our daughter Pippa should not have died," her mother Annah White said on Monday outside an inquest into the girl's tragic death. The inquest, resuming this week, has heard of multiple healthcare failures including understaffing, a lack of training, missed opportunities for escalation and a dismissal of her concerns as a parent, Ms White said. She took Pippa to hospital in Cowra on June 12, about three days after she began experiencing a high temperature, vomiting and diarrhoea. Eventually transferred to Orange, an experienced pediatrician believed Pippa was "getting better" after reading notes from a doctor at Cowra. But Ms White testified that at the time her daughter was "lethargic" and vomiting fluids given to her. At Orange Base Hospital, tests revealed the toddler had pneumonia with a complete white-out of her left lung. But further delays occurred before she suffered two cardiac arrests and died about 12.30pm on June 13. Speaking besides a portrait of her daughter wearing a dress of her favourite colour, yellow, Ms White asked those within the packed courtroom on Monday to consider Pippa as someone in their life they loved dearly. "Now, imagine this tragic death occurred to your Pippa," she said. "How does that make you feel? Hold onto that feeling. "I hope hearing about Pippa's last moments during this inquest lights a fire deep inside you to fight for change - because your Pippas are still alive." The family has suggested mandatory sepsis training, better resourcing of emergency departments and a system for patient, family or carer escalation such as Queensland's Ryan's Rule or Western Australia's Aishwarya's Care Call. Ryan Saunders died of an undiagnosed streptococcal infection in 2007, with his parents feeling their vocal concerns about his condition were not acted on in time by Rockhampton hospital staff. Parental advocacy not being acted upon was also raised after two-year-old Joe Massa died of a cardiac arrest at Sydney's Northern Beaches Hospital in September. He was wrongly triaged and waited two hours for a hospital bed, his parents say. Seven-year-old Aishwarya Aswath died of sepsis on Easter Saturday 2021, hours after presenting to the Perth Children's Hospital emergency department with a fever and unusually cold hands. Her parents had pleaded with clinicians to escalate care. Pippa's inquest on Monday heard from the registered nurse who triaged the toddler at Cowra hospital and noted she had a very high heart rate. Nikota Potter-Bancroft said she put this down to Pippa's anxiety because she seemed upset and did not want the hospital staff to touch her. She was shown a phone video taken of the toddler struggling to breath and grunting 10 minutes before her assessment. Ms Potter-Bancroft said she did not remember seeing Pippa in that way. "Don't you accept that if she was breathing in that manner ... that was a serious failure on your part not to notice that?" the Whites' barrister Richard O'Keefe SC asked. "Not necessarily because I didn't see it," Ms Potter-Bancroft replied. The nurse admitted she had not looked at the hospital's pediatric sepsis pathway when assessing Pippa. But she denied the toddler met the criteria or required a rapid response. The courtroom was packed with Pippa's family and friends who travelled to Sydney for the inquest. Outside court, Ms White described them as "Pip's army" who were all equally broken and shattered. The inquest continues. Almost three years after their critically ill toddler's "preventable" and tragic hospital death, her family wants to light a fire of change. Pippa Mae White died from sepsis in June 2022, weeks before her third birthday, after being transferred to Orange Hospital in the NSW central west. "It is very evident to us that our daughter Pippa should not have died," her mother Annah White said on Monday outside an inquest into the girl's tragic death. The inquest, resuming this week, has heard of multiple healthcare failures including understaffing, a lack of training, missed opportunities for escalation and a dismissal of her concerns as a parent, Ms White said. She took Pippa to hospital in Cowra on June 12, about three days after she began experiencing a high temperature, vomiting and diarrhoea. Eventually transferred to Orange, an experienced pediatrician believed Pippa was "getting better" after reading notes from a doctor at Cowra. But Ms White testified that at the time her daughter was "lethargic" and vomiting fluids given to her. At Orange Base Hospital, tests revealed the toddler had pneumonia with a complete white-out of her left lung. But further delays occurred before she suffered two cardiac arrests and died about 12.30pm on June 13. Speaking besides a portrait of her daughter wearing a dress of her favourite colour, yellow, Ms White asked those within the packed courtroom on Monday to consider Pippa as someone in their life they loved dearly. "Now, imagine this tragic death occurred to your Pippa," she said. "How does that make you feel? Hold onto that feeling. "I hope hearing about Pippa's last moments during this inquest lights a fire deep inside you to fight for change - because your Pippas are still alive." The family has suggested mandatory sepsis training, better resourcing of emergency departments and a system for patient, family or carer escalation such as Queensland's Ryan's Rule or Western Australia's Aishwarya's Care Call. Ryan Saunders died of an undiagnosed streptococcal infection in 2007, with his parents feeling their vocal concerns about his condition were not acted on in time by Rockhampton hospital staff. Parental advocacy not being acted upon was also raised after two-year-old Joe Massa died of a cardiac arrest at Sydney's Northern Beaches Hospital in September. He was wrongly triaged and waited two hours for a hospital bed, his parents say. Seven-year-old Aishwarya Aswath died of sepsis on Easter Saturday 2021, hours after presenting to the Perth Children's Hospital emergency department with a fever and unusually cold hands. Her parents had pleaded with clinicians to escalate care. Pippa's inquest on Monday heard from the registered nurse who triaged the toddler at Cowra hospital and noted she had a very high heart rate. Nikota Potter-Bancroft said she put this down to Pippa's anxiety because she seemed upset and did not want the hospital staff to touch her. She was shown a phone video taken of the toddler struggling to breath and grunting 10 minutes before her assessment. Ms Potter-Bancroft said she did not remember seeing Pippa in that way. "Don't you accept that if she was breathing in that manner ... that was a serious failure on your part not to notice that?" the Whites' barrister Richard O'Keefe SC asked. "Not necessarily because I didn't see it," Ms Potter-Bancroft replied. The nurse admitted she had not looked at the hospital's pediatric sepsis pathway when assessing Pippa. But she denied the toddler met the criteria or required a rapid response. The courtroom was packed with Pippa's family and friends who travelled to Sydney for the inquest. Outside court, Ms White described them as "Pip's army" who were all equally broken and shattered. The inquest continues. Almost three years after their critically ill toddler's "preventable" and tragic hospital death, her family wants to light a fire of change. Pippa Mae White died from sepsis in June 2022, weeks before her third birthday, after being transferred to Orange Hospital in the NSW central west. "It is very evident to us that our daughter Pippa should not have died," her mother Annah White said on Monday outside an inquest into the girl's tragic death. The inquest, resuming this week, has heard of multiple healthcare failures including understaffing, a lack of training, missed opportunities for escalation and a dismissal of her concerns as a parent, Ms White said. She took Pippa to hospital in Cowra on June 12, about three days after she began experiencing a high temperature, vomiting and diarrhoea. Eventually transferred to Orange, an experienced pediatrician believed Pippa was "getting better" after reading notes from a doctor at Cowra. But Ms White testified that at the time her daughter was "lethargic" and vomiting fluids given to her. At Orange Base Hospital, tests revealed the toddler had pneumonia with a complete white-out of her left lung. But further delays occurred before she suffered two cardiac arrests and died about 12.30pm on June 13. Speaking besides a portrait of her daughter wearing a dress of her favourite colour, yellow, Ms White asked those within the packed courtroom on Monday to consider Pippa as someone in their life they loved dearly. "Now, imagine this tragic death occurred to your Pippa," she said. "How does that make you feel? Hold onto that feeling. "I hope hearing about Pippa's last moments during this inquest lights a fire deep inside you to fight for change - because your Pippas are still alive." The family has suggested mandatory sepsis training, better resourcing of emergency departments and a system for patient, family or carer escalation such as Queensland's Ryan's Rule or Western Australia's Aishwarya's Care Call. Ryan Saunders died of an undiagnosed streptococcal infection in 2007, with his parents feeling their vocal concerns about his condition were not acted on in time by Rockhampton hospital staff. Parental advocacy not being acted upon was also raised after two-year-old Joe Massa died of a cardiac arrest at Sydney's Northern Beaches Hospital in September. He was wrongly triaged and waited two hours for a hospital bed, his parents say. Seven-year-old Aishwarya Aswath died of sepsis on Easter Saturday 2021, hours after presenting to the Perth Children's Hospital emergency department with a fever and unusually cold hands. Her parents had pleaded with clinicians to escalate care. Pippa's inquest on Monday heard from the registered nurse who triaged the toddler at Cowra hospital and noted she had a very high heart rate. Nikota Potter-Bancroft said she put this down to Pippa's anxiety because she seemed upset and did not want the hospital staff to touch her. She was shown a phone video taken of the toddler struggling to breath and grunting 10 minutes before her assessment. Ms Potter-Bancroft said she did not remember seeing Pippa in that way. "Don't you accept that if she was breathing in that manner ... that was a serious failure on your part not to notice that?" the Whites' barrister Richard O'Keefe SC asked. "Not necessarily because I didn't see it," Ms Potter-Bancroft replied. The nurse admitted she had not looked at the hospital's pediatric sepsis pathway when assessing Pippa. But she denied the toddler met the criteria or required a rapid response. The courtroom was packed with Pippa's family and friends who travelled to Sydney for the inquest. Outside court, Ms White described them as "Pip's army" who were all equally broken and shattered. The inquest continues.
7NEWS
21-05-2025
- 7NEWS
Queensland girl Elvie Luik, 13, faces leukaemia fight
For most youngsters, turning 13 marks a new and exciting chapter in their lives — the start of the teenage years and the transition from childhood to becoming an adult, and all that goes with it. When Elvie Luik turned 13 last month, she celebrated the milestone at Movie World and Wet'n'Wild with her family. But over the Easter weekend the Queensland teenager began to feel sick with headaches, vomiting and lethargy. Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today Doctors diagnosed Elvie with a mild infection, telling her mother Rosie the illness should resolve itself in about a week with some rest. But Elvie did not get better and Rosie had a gut feeling something more serious was wrong. Her intuition was confirmed when another emergency hospital visit revealed the young girl had leukaemia. Doctors had never seen a white cell count so high. The mother and daughter have already been through a lot. Rosie fell seriously ill after giving birth to Elvie, developing an infection that almost killed her and put her in hospital for three months. Now Elvie faces her own fight for life. Rosie Luik, 40, and her daughter Elvie, 13. Credit: Supplied Rosie, 40, originally thought her daughter had picked up a simple, common illness from someone at one of the theme parks. 'She didn't really have a very high temperature or anything like that so we thought maybe we'll just keep her home for a few days and just see how she goes,' she told For a few days Elvie's health was up and down. Some days she felt alright but others she wasn't well at all, her mother said. When Elvie felt well enough to go back to school, Rosie soon received a call from the nurse saying Elvie needed to be picked up. 'I went and picked her up and then she threw up in the back of the car and then said she was feeling a lot better,' Rosie said. But the teenager continued to vomit and complain of a bad headache, prompting Rosie to take her to emergency a few days later. Doctors said Elvie likely had viral meningitis, an infection that is usually not very serious and goes away on its own. '(They said) just go home and rest for seven to 10 days and she'll hopefully get better,' Rosie said. 'So I took her home and she just, she just wasn't getting better.' Elvie's symptoms continued and, the day after Mother's Day, Rosie decided enough was enough. 'There's something else going on here,' she recalled thinking. Rosie drove her daughter back to the emergency department where the young girl underwent a blood test and an MRI. The results worried doctors. 'By the time we got back from the MRI, the doctor came in and said 'I need to do another blood test. Her white cell count is impossible, that's impossible to have that high of a white cell count. So, I'm just doing another test',' Rosie said. Elvie was diagnosed with leukaemia the day after Mother's Day this year. Credit: Supplied Soon after, the oncology team came to visit. With Rosie's husband listening on the phone, the family were told Elvie had leukaemia. She was declared a medical emergency and was whisked away to the paediatric ICU. Rosie said receiving her daughter's shocking diagnosis was completely overwhelming and numbing. Explaining what having leukaemia meant to Elvie was just as bad. 'It was the most heartbreaking experience I've ever had in my life, and to just hear the words that came out of her mouth were just awful,' she said. 'She was just like 'I want to live, you need me here, my brothers and sisters need me here'. 'She was just beside herself.' But as soon as Elvie was taken to the ICU, Rosie said something in her switched. She wasn't going anywhere. She was going to live. '(Elvie) just had this positive attitude. She's like 'It's OK mum, its' OK dad, I'm doing to beat this. I'm going to be here. I'm not going to leave you',' Rosie said. Elvie has three older siblings, all of whom have stepped up to help in the face of the life-changing news. Elvie and Rosie Luik. Credit: Supplied A traumatic postpartum Bringing Elvie into the world 13 years ago was no easy feat for Rosie. A year earlier, in 2011, Rosie had become Queensland's first altruistic surrogate when she gave birth to twins for her friend Lauren Lichtnauer. Lichtnauer had undergone 21 failed IVF treatments and four miscarriages, and was resigned to the fact she could not have children of her own. At this point, Rosie had already given birth three times. In 2016 the surrogacy story made headlines when 60 Minutes revealed Lichtnauer had — against all odds — become pregnant just weeks before Rosie was due to give birth to the twins. That same year, it was also revealed Rosie had almost died after giving birth to Elvie. After the twins were born, Rosie developed a severe infection. She eventually recovered and quickly fell pregnant with her own child — Elvie. But just weeks after Elvie was born in 2012, Rosie fell sick again and had to have an emergency hysterectomy. She then developed peritonitis, a life-threatening infection that causes inflammation of the abdomen and pelvic lining. Rosie spent the next three months in hospital fighting for her life before eventually making a full recovery, again. Elvie with her three older siblings. Credit: Supplied 'The most beautiful soul' Elvie is currently undergoing chemotherapy, with her prognosis at this stage unclear. Despite this she has remained as positive as ever. 'I think she's trying to be strong for everyone and she's just the most beautiful soul,' Rosie said. 'That's really shining through in this, like she's just trying to take it one step at a time and just be as positive and see the joy and when (the doctors) say 'Great job, Elvie, you've done really well' she's really proud of herself.' A GoFundMe has been set up to help Elvie and the family, with Rosie and her husband both cutting back on work to help look after their daughter. Rosie said she's been overwhelmed by the response and all the love and support the family has received. 'We're just so grateful and we can't thank people enough,' she said. 'I mean (with) the surrogacy, being in the media with that was a little bit hard but our whole family unit ... everything we're about is helping people and being there for other people and this is just showing how much of a special person Elvie is, and how she's touched so many people.'
