When their healthy baby became gravely ill, the helpless parents watched on as the experts flew into action. Photo / Woman's Weekly
When their healthy baby became gravely ill, the helpless parents watched on as the experts flew into action. Photo / Woman's Weekly
Last year, the Starship National Air Ambulance flew 176 times and more than 140,000 kilometres transporting sick children around the country to desperately needed medical care.
One of those was then-newborn Christchurch baby Marley Gentleman, who unbeknownst to anyone had a small but deadly kidney defect which almost claimed his life.
Devoted parents Katie and Ryan recall the first sign something wasn’t right with their 10-day-old son was when a normally cruisy Marley was miserable and wouldn’t settle.
A phone call with their midwife and some sage advice to “trust your mum gut” led Katie to take him to an after-hours medical centre, where the terrifying journey began.
“He was blue around his lips and mottled,” recalls Katie, 24. “I unzipped his onesie to show the nurse his mottled skin, and she ran off to get help. Straight away, we were in the resuscitation room and then in an ambulance.”
At the time, truck driver Ryan was at work, but upon hearing Katie and Marley were en route to the hospital, he immediately pulled over, parked the truck and jumped in an Uber to meet them.
“Katie was texting me that he might have sepsis,” he says. “I didn’t know what that was, so I googled it and read that it can be a full-body infection and fatal.”
Now terrified for Marley, Ryan arrived at the hospital to find a distraught Katie as the doctors rushed to discover what was wrong with their much-longed-for baby.
Marley was immediately put on a full spectrum course of IV antibiotics and taken in for exploratory surgery, with the fear he may have a twisted bowel. If so, Ryan and Katie were told it would be untreatable.
“He looked lifeless,” remembers Katie, tearing up at the memory as Ryan comforts her. “We were just hugging each other and crying and praying, and holding his little hand.”
“He looked lifeless,” remembers Katie, tearing up at the memory. Photo / Woman's Weekly
To their huge relief, it wasn’t a twisted bowel, but Marley was still critically unwell and doctors at this stage had no idea what was causing it.
The call was made to transport Marley to Starship Children’s Hospital in Auckland via the Air Ambulance – a decision they’ll be forever grateful for.
“The crew came in with all their equipment,” shares Katie. “I was really nervous and asking heaps of questions. We had everything he needed in the hospital room, and I was worried they wouldn’t have everything onboard if something happened while we were in the air.
“Every time there was a noise on the flight, my heart dropped. But they were constantly reassuring me, and making sure I felt safe and he was safe.”
The bright-blue turboprop plane is a fully equipped flying intensive care unit, staffed by a highly trained team, including a paediatric intensive care doctor and nurse. The team are on call 24/7, 365 days a year.
Sharing their experience with the Weekly, Ryan and Katie both stress how much they appreciate the support and care they received, from the Air Ambulance team and Starship staff to their paediatric consultants and the hospital social workers.
“When we got to Starship, you could see the confidence in the nurses,” reflects Ryan, 24. “Bells and whistles would go off and we would panic, but they would always calmly talk us through it.”
With the best care in the country and results from testing at Christchurch Hospital, Marley was diagnosed with a blocked ureter, the tube that carries urine from the kidneys to the bladder, which meant his kidneys couldn’t drain properly.
The bright-blue turboprop plane is a fully-equipped flying intensive care unit, staffed by a highly trained team, including a paediatric intensive care doctor and nurse. Photo / Woman's Weekly
This ureteric reflux meant E. coli bacteria from his nappy was taken up to his kidneys and couldn’t drain, thus causing the severe case of sepsis. The blockage most likely formed in the last weeks of pregnancy and went undetected.
After four weeks at Starship, during which a stent was surgically inserted to hold his ureter open, Marley was finally able to return home.
These days, Marley is the picture of health, and from his happy persona, you’d never know the ordeal he went through in his first weeks of life.
He’ll continue to have ongoing check-ups, but the stent was removed at eight months old.
“We just cherish every moment with him.” Photo / Woman's Weekly
“Every night we say to each other, ‘He’s just so perfect’,” says his doting mum.
Marley has settled into preschool, the same one where Katie now works after leaving primary school teaching to be closer to him, and she and Ryan are excitedly preparing to celebrate his first birthday later this month.
