Rare intervention saves tot from brain damage
Procedure usually only used on adults credited with 3-year-old’s recovery
A 3-year-old girl having a severe fit was dramatically rescued by emergency staff who “breathed for her” by placing a tube down her throat.
St John paramedic John Mabbett and volunteer firefighters Lauren Malkin and Arie Litherland were this week reunited with toddler Ivy Barn after the harrowing ordeal in May, which involved a medical procedure rarely used on children.
Speaking four months after the incident, parents Laura and John Barn said it was their daughter’s third seizure of her life and the most serious.
“We put her in the recovery position because we didn’t know what else to do,” Laura said.
Malkin said after responding to a 111 call from the family, they found out the nature of the job on the way there.
“So instantly you start thinking ‘oh my gosh, this is going to be a serious job’.”
She and Litherland arrived at the Barns’ West Auckland house five minutes after the 111 call was made. At that point, Ivy’s seizure had been going on for 15 minutes.
“At that point, I believe Ivy started vomiting and her jaw had locked shut,” Litherland said. The volunteers determined that it was a “status one” emergency — an immediate threat to life.
Malkin alerted St John staff to hurry, calling for a specialised paramedic, too.
When intensive care paramedic Jeff Mabbett arrived, he made the call to resort to a procedure called rapid sequence intubation. “Which is when we give her drugs intravenously . . . put her in a deep coma . . . paralyse her essentially, and place a breathing tube down so we can breathe for her, which stops her vomit going down into her lungs,” Mabbett said.
“By all accounts that was successful.”
He rarely had to resort to such a procedure.
“There’s not many intensive care paramedics in New Zealand that can do it. So it’s lucky that there [was] one available that can,” Mabbett said.
“Because it has its risks. I probably do one a month at the most, which isn’t very often.”
He was quick to add the procedure is mostly done on adults.
“I’ve not done very many on children and most people wouldn’t.”
Mabbett said the job was particularly difficult given his own daughter
We’re just happy with the effort that everybody did put in. And because of that Ivy is still here with us. Ivy’s father John Barn
was the same age and looked similar to Ivy.
The toddler was taken to Starship and immediately placed in the Intensive Care Unit.
Laura Barn says they were told the worst case scenario was that she could wake up brain-damaged.
“But she didn’t,” she said, smiling broadly. “We truly believe it’s because of the work that was done to assist her before she even got to hospital.”
Ivy, who had since been diagnosed with tonic-clonic epilepsy, was back to her usual bubbly and “loud at times” self, John Barn said.
“We’re just happy with the effort that everybody did put in. And because of that Ivy is still here with us.”