Mother of heart failure baby thanks air ambulance for saving his life
A mother whose baby suffered heart failure has thanked the air ambulance for saving his life.
Jack Rowley's underwent emergency surgery at just four-weeks-old after his heart stopped functioning properly.
Jack was born on the Isle of Wight, but was deemed too ill to be taken to hospital in Southampton by land ambulance, and so the Children's Air Ambulance - the country's only dedicated paediatric helicopter emergency transfer service - was called in to help him.
Jack had originally been admitted to hospital with bronchiolitis - an infection of the lower respiratory tract - but whilst there he was diagnosed with severe heart problems which required emergency surgery in Southampton.
As Jack's parents, Abi and Mike Rowley, made their way to the hospital in Southampton, the youngster who had already arrived and was being prepped for theatre went into cardiac arrest.
"I try not to think about it but if Jack hadn't got there that quickly and been ready to go into surgery, I can't help but think it would be a heart-breaking story rather than a heart-warming one," his mother said.
The stay-at-home mum, 32, from East Cowes, added: "I can't really find the words to tell you how grateful we all are that the Children's Air Ambulance were there for us. Everything could have been very different without their help.''
Luckily the surgery was a success and Jack - who is now two - was allowed home just 10 days later.
Mrs Rowley said that her son is happy and healthy but still undergoes check-ups.
The praise for the UK's only dedicated children's air ambulance service comes as plans were unveiled to double the fleet of helicopters used by the service.
The £32 million expansion will mean that the service will have two state-of-the-art helicopters - one covering the north of the country and one covering the south.
At present the service has capacity to fly only one in three of the 1,000 children and babies each year who need an emergency helicopter transfer from their local hospital to specialist care.
It is hoped that the expansion will mean that the service can meet demand for services.
The additional helicopter will mean that the service - which receives no government funding - will be able to provide transport for 19 hours a day, seven days a week. At present the service only operates during daylight hours, Monday to Friday.
"Children and babies don't just get sick in office hours," said the service's director of operations Richard Clayton.
"With a truly national Children's Air Ambulance service, we can be at any hospital in the UK within 25 minutes to transfer the patient to a specialist centre such as Alder Hey in Liverpool or Evelina Children's Hospital in London.
"And when a child is too sick to travel even by helicopter, then we can fly the specialist team direct to their local hospital."