Fight for life at six weeks Baby airlifted to Lady Cilento
SIX-week old Anthea Brotherton suffered colic, so when she awoke upset after an afternoon sleep, her mother Karli gave her Panadol and a bath to settle her.
It soon became clear to Karli and partner Dan something was not right about their daughter’s crying.
When they noticed Anthea’s body temperature was a dangerously low 32.8 degrees, they took her straight to the emergency department of St Vincent’s Private Hospital.
Karli and Dan are both studying, soon to be qualified in nursing and paramedicine respectively.
“It’s such a horrible moment to know that your baby’s in trouble but not know what it is or how to help,” Karli said.
Paediatricians ran a series of tests before they decided that the nature of Anthea’s condition was untreatable with their resources, and called for an emergency airlift to Brisbane.
Anthea was airlifted by the Brisbane-based RACQ LifeFlight Rescue helicopter with a neonatal intensive care team from Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital on-board.
Their baby had suffered a stroke in the cerebellum and a major brain bleed which required immediate surgery to remove the blood clot and drain the blood – a lifesaving surgery that lasted more than six hours. She then required three bags of blood to be stabilised.
Anthea has since returned home to her parents but makes regular visits to Brisbane for specialist appointments including neurosurgery, ophthalmology, genetic testing, occu- pational therapy, speech therapy and physiotherapy.
Karli and Dan made a special trip to Brisbane to meet the crew who airlifted their baby girl to life saving surgery.