Terminally ill Connecticut child gets day at beach, with help of Yale New Haven Hospital - legions of others - and she smiled

With the effort of many, a terminally ill 4-year-old who loves the beach was briefly moved out of the pediatric intensive care unit at Yale New Haven Hospital Tuesday so she could listen to the waves at Lighthouse Point Park in New Haven.

It was a wish conveyed by her mother, Christine Dole of Mystic.

“We chose to bring her to the beach because it has always been her calm, her favorite place to sit on the edge of the ocean and watch the waves,” Dole said.

Eliana Palacio was transported by ambulance, with a back-up ambulance — just in case — and accompanied by three doctors, several on-duty nurses and medical transport team.

She was brought to the shore via stretcher, a heart monitor and ventilator attached, as she can’t breathe on her own.

Decorative balloons were rooted in the sand, as she was greeted by dozens of family members, close friends and off duty hospital staff who have fallen in love with the little girl known for her flashy personalized sunglasses.

It seemed they moved mountains, but the reward was huge when Eliana smiled.

“It’s a beautiful day. It’s wonderful. It could not have gone any better,” Dole said.

Grandmother Karen Dole said she hadn’t seen Eliana smile in two weeks — until Tuesday’s two-hour visit to the shore.

“I can’t even put into words what it was like to see her smile,” Dole said. “She just listened to the waves and the ocean and had a big smile.”

Eliana has been hospitalized since January because of mitochondrial depletion syndrome, an extremely rare, genetic, progressive and terminal disorder.

The mitochondria is the power house of the body, explained one of Eliana’s doctors, Dr. Marie Nader, who sported Eliana-style sunglasses on Tuesday’s beach trip.

Eliana isn’t ambulatory and doesn’t talk — although she is communicative. Her mother said her condition has progressed following a case of COVID-19, but doctors don’t know if the two are related.

After a brief time by the shore she was moved under a pavilion and placed in mother’s arms by the medical team, with her father close by.

Loved ones streamed up to greet the motionless girl with the colorful hair decorations and hug her parents, Dole and Rich Palacio. The family lives in Mystic.

There wasn’t a dry eye on the beach.

While there was great joy among the crowd that Eliana was happy, it was sharply contrasted by reminders of her dire prognosis.

“This is a gift from God, especially for Eliana’s mother (her granddaughter),” Eliana’s maternal great-grandmother, Adele McGuire, said of the beach trip.

McGuire said while it was “wonderful,” she also said, “this isn’t fair.”

Dr. Nader said “there is so much love” and “serenity” in Eliana’s room at the hospital that the team thinks of it as a place to escape. There’s soothing music, including the sound of ocean waves, nice colors and essential oils.

“You can feel the love,” Nader said, crediting the girl and her family.

“We owed it to her to give her a trip to the beach, which is her serenity,” Nader said.

Another on “Team Eliana,” Dr. Sofia Athanasopoulou, bought Eliana-style sunglasses for Dole to personalize and hand out.

“It’s one of the greatest privileges and honors to take care of her. We love her so much,” Athanasopoulou said of the girl.

The trip to Lighthouse was made possible by Make A Wish Foundation of Connecticut, the critical care team at the hospital, the social work team and the Groton Police Department, which provided comfort dogs.

Lisa Brown, program director for the wish organization, said Eliana’s case was tricky because she’s very ill with an “end of life” situation and the hospital wanted something they could control.

“It’s to make some memories with her family and for them to have these lasting memories with her,” Brown

Fraser Weir, a critical care flight paramedic, was part of the transport team that helped make the family’s dream a reality. It took tons of planning and coordination and efforts grew as time went on, Weir said.

At Tuesday’s event the team watched Eliana closely, but casual in appearance. A flight nurse kept constant watch on the girl to make sure she wasn’t getting too hot or tired — in which case the team was ready to whisk her away, Weir said.

“We’re actually taking care of her right now,” Fraser said. Seeing Eliana at the beach with her family is one of the most emotional experiences Weir said he’s had in 30 years in the business.

“A happy one for me,” he said.

Members of the New Haven Fire Department and police force were there in droves to support the effort, as were representatives from police and emergency services departments of UConn, Berlin, Torrington, Colchester and Groton.

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