Newborn baby airlifted to hospital for lifesaving heart surgery – Cornwall Live

A baby girl who needed emergency heart surgery was airlifted to hospital for lifesaving treatment at just one month old.

Now, her parents have praised a special service called the Childrens Air Ambulance for saving their little girls life.

Just days before being taken to hospital in 2017, new parents Becky and Damian Inch had no idea anything was even wrong with Elsie.

But within just a few terrible hours, her condition had deteriorated so much that her mum and dad, who live in Bude, feared they might lose her.

She wouldve died, no two ways about it, said 31-year-old Damian. Our family wouldve just been lost. I dont know how youd come back from something like that.

They didnt know it at the time but Elsie had a congenital heart disorder and desperately needed specialist surgery.

When she first arrived in hospital, Elsie was rushed into theatre in paediatric intensive care to have an emergency septostomy - where a small hole is made in the wall between the left and right atria of the heart - which stabilised her condition.

Two days later she had a complex five-and-a-half-hour open heart surgery to correct a problem with the hearts structure called transposition of the great arteries. Youngsters with this disorder have the aorta and the pulmonary artery reversed, meaning blood flows to the lungs and picks up oxygen but is then pumped back to the lungs instead of travelling around the body.

Blood flowing round the body is unable to reach the lungs to pick up oxygen and continues circulating. Incredibly, this serious condition was only discovered in Elsie by chance.

Mum Becky, 29, had gone into hospital because of stomach pains and a midwife happened to notice Elsies hands and feet were a bit puffy.

After tests were carried out she was rushed to the special care baby unit and it was decided to fly her to Bristol for urgent surgery.

The Childrens Air Ambulance flew her from North Devon District Hospital to Bristol Childrens Hospital. It took just 24 minutes by air compared to the two hours it would have taken to cover the 100 miles by road and her dad Damian believes the flight saved his little girls life.

Because Becky had an infection, she had to stay in the hospital in Devon so Damian - who doesnt like flying - was to accompany his daughter in the helicopter.

Before they left, Elsies condition suddenly took a turn for the worse leaving her in a critical condition as not enough oxygen was going around her body.

Damian said: When the WATCh team (Wales and West Acute Transport for Children Service) came down they were hopefully going to transfer her straight back up if she was stabilised but when they started to put a feeding tube in she was gasping for air and it took them four hours to stabilise her enough to fly.

It was getting close to being dark but the pilot was keen to take off and she probably wouldnt have made it if we hadnt.

Once at Bristol she immediately had surgery and Damian says this is a time he will never be able top forget.

I thought Id been dealt a crappy hand we had tried for four years for a baby and now my daughter could die in front of me and my wifes ill and 150 miles away in another hospital, he said.

I felt like I was having panic attacks, I was having trouble breathing Id never cried so much in my life.

Becky was soon transferred to another hospital in Bristol so she could see her daughter before she had the second operation.

A switch operation to correct Elsies condition was scheduled for the Friday. This would make the circulation of blood through the heart and lungs normal.

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Damian said: The operation was at 9.30am on the Friday and we got told it was possibly a nine-and-a-half-hour operation. We went into the city for a bit, there was no point in sitting there not knowing what was going on.

We got back after five and a half hours and the surgeon was walking around looking for us. Immediately my heart sank but he came out and said it been a success.

We were expecting her to be on a bypass machine with her chest open but when we came back her chest was closedThe operation had gone really well.

After that all I wanted to do was see her open her eyes again. On the Saturday morning I got there at 6am and said morning to her like I always do and she just started to open her eyes so I rang Beck and said get down here nowElsie started opening her eyes and moving around that day.

Damian says he remains eternally grateful to the Childrens Air Ambulance and plans to raise funds for Children's Air Ambulance as a thank you - knowing the service gets no government funding.

He said: "Its just a joke that no funding is available for them its absolutely absurd. Its the most important service I think there could be. Without them, Elsie wouldve died. The speed and the extra time that was saved, had a massive, massive impact.

In January 2020 Elsie celebrated her third birthday. She is enjoying being at nursery and loves singing and dancing.

Shes such a funny little girl, says her dad.

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Newborn baby airlifted to hospital for lifesaving heart surgery - Cornwall Live