We simply CARn’t thank you enough!
FAMILY REUNITED WITH MEDICS WHO SAVED LIFE OF BABY BORN IN HIS PARENTS’ FORD FIESTA
It was fantastic to get the opportunity to come back and thank them all in person Nicole Campbell
THE parents of a baby boy born in a hospital car park with the umbilical cord wrapped twice around his neck have been reunited with the team who saved his life.
Nicole Campbell’s waters had already broken when husband Alex pulled up outside Tameside Hospital’s A&E on a cold November night last year.
The 30-year-old was two days past her due date, and the couple had been on their way to Stepping Hill Hospital in Stockport from their home in Ashtonunder-Lyne when they realised they weren’t going to make it – the baby was coming now.
Alex, 28, ran inside the emergency department to find help, leaving Nicole in the car with a passerby.
Nurse Joanne McMahon immediately sprung into action after hearing Alex’s pleas.
She and colleague Dr Hyder Qureshi went out into the freezing cold and found a petrified Nicole on the front passenger seat of the silver Ford Fiesta with the door wide open.
Dr Qureshi examined the mum-tobe and discovered the baby’s head had already been delivered – and that the umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck twice. Very carefully, Joanne held his head while Dr Qureshi removed the cord, and within minutes Richie was born.
But the ordeal was not yet over and more panic began to set in when Richie didn’t cry. Dr Qureshi began patting his back and rubbing him, and after a few anxious moments out came the cry.
Both mum and baby were taken to the hospital’s maternity unit where they were checked over and found to be healthy and well.
Alex and Nicole, along with Richie and his big sister Jasmine, three, have now returned to Tameside A&E to say thank you to the team for saving his life.
It was an emotional reunion – the first time they had seen each other since that night.
“We are so grateful,” said Alex. “It was fantastic to get the opportunity to come back and thank them all in person.
“It’s something that was really impor- tant to us and it’s important that they know as well what a good job they’re doing. It’s a brilliant team here and we will never forget what they did for us.”
Nicole said her traumatic experience was a whirlwind.
“It all happened so quickly,” she added.
“We started off at home thinking ‘it’s fine, we will get there,’ but then as we got to the motorway I realised we weren’t going to make it.
“As soon as we turned the car around my waters broke. When we got to A&E, Alex ran in and grabbed a passerby to stay with me as I was pushing, then all the staff came out and helped to deliver him.
“I didn’t realise the cord was around his neck until the consultant told me, and he said I was going to have to keep pushing but at this point I wasn’t having contractions so he had to push down on my stomach.
“It was a really scary experience, especially being where I was, but I am so grateful the team was there to help us through it all.”