Heartfelt thanks for baby’s flight
The Murtons knew their newborn son would have a hole in his heart, but they didn’t expect him to need open-heart surgery at just two weeks old.
Luckily he was able to get treatment without any delay when he was whisked to Auckland’s Starship Children’s Hospital by Life Flight at just 10 days old. Scans had missed some heart problems during older sister Lorelai’s gestation, so third-time mum Rebecca Murton was paying extra attention to Adam.
‘‘They thought it would be a small hole. They kept telling us, ‘He’ll be fine, he’ll be fine, when he comes out he’ll be fine.’’’
But when Adam was born in February 2017, Murton and husband Callum, of Whitby, found out the hole in his heart was much bigger than could be seen in the scans. There was also an added complication – a coarctation, or narrowing – of baby Adam’s aorta. Both conditions are potentially lifethreatening.
‘‘We were hoping to take Adam home on day 10 because everything was looking pretty good.’’
Murton left the neo-natal unit for a ‘‘little bit’’ but when she got back her baby son was surrounded by medics.
‘‘They were putting lines in and giving him drugs. They said, ‘Life Flight’s going to be here in half an hour to take you up to Auckland because it looks like he’s going to need surgery.’
‘‘Life Flight rushed in and took him up to Starship, which was awesome. They just bundled him up and told us everything would be all right.’’
An ambulance took Murton and Adam to Wellington Hospital, and then on to Starship aboard Life Flight’s Air Ambulance.
‘‘That flight up I was probably on the cusp of tears the whole time,’’ said Murton. ‘‘It was pretty freaky seeing him hooked up to everything.’’
A hospital nurse herself, Murton said it was ‘‘very different’’ to see her own baby lying there.
Adam’s open heart surgery was five hours long and the two parents tried not to think of the worst.
‘‘It was torture. We tried to distract ourselves [but] you always think about those things . . . You try not to focus on them.’’
Murton hated to think what would have happened if Life Flight had not been there.
Two years old in February, Adam is now a cheerful toddler who loves books and cuddles with his mum, and playing with sisters Cassandra, 7, and Lorelai, 4.
His cognition, which heart problems can sometimes impact, hadn’t been affected by his rocky start to life.
Murton said her son was down to six-monthly check-ups. He does have a ‘‘little valve problem’’ that might need surgery when he’s an adult. She said he’d probably need to be monitored for the rest of his life but he was otherwise a healthy, happy child.
‘‘Adam’s just like a normal kid but with some good scars. It’s magic, we’re very lucky.’’
She said Life Flight was an essential service.
‘‘It’s not like it’s a nicety. We’re so grateful. Everything was just right there.’’
‘‘They just bundled him up and told us everything would be all right.’’
Four people need the help of Life Flight every day. Life Flight is a registered charity that relies on donations to keep running. You can help muck in here at lifeflight.org.nz/support-us.