The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Paramedics
Paramedics who saved Darcy’s life help her celebrate special day
who saved the life of Darcy Fleming when she was born without a heartbeat in their ambulance join the tot on her first birthday.
Just moments into her fragile life, baby Darcy Fleming was on the brink of death, receiving CPR in a roadside ambulance.
Her mother Claire Fleming, from Lintrathen in Angus, had been unaware she was pregnant but by the time she called her mother had realised something was wrong.
Darcy was in breach position and in serious danger.
Paramedics rushed Claire towards Ninewells Hospital in Dundee but the 6lb 9oz girl was born beside a muddy road near Alyth, without a heartbeat.
The ambulance crew who saved her life that day 12 months ago were yesterday reunited with the tot at a special family celebration to mark her first birthday.
Claire, 36, said she had been helping a farrier shoe horses when she began feeling pains.
At first she thought it was a sickness bug, then when the pains became worse, she worried it was appendicitis.
“If you’re not expecting a baby then you don’t associate the pain with that,” she said.
“My mum lives nearby and I had already called her to see if she could come when I started feeling pain.
“Seeing the feet was the first realisation that it was a baby.
“By the time my mum got here I was already on the phone to the ambulance. I just tried to stay calm.”
As they waited for an ambulance to come, retired doctor Mike Morris came to help.
When paramedics Stuart Wilkie and Angela McKenzie arrived they realised they would need special assistance due to the birth being breach.
“They decided I’d have to go to Ninewells Hospital and I was on gas and air. But on the way to Alyth we stopped in a layby because I couldn’t hang on anymore.
“The legs were out and Darcy was stuck by her chin before she was born in the layby.”
By this point another ambulance had arrived at the rural road with paramedics Morna Vannet and Steven Dryden.
The situation became gravely serious when it became apparent Darcy did not have a heartbeat after she was delivered.
Paramedic Stuart Wilkie recalled: “It was a very stressful, upsetting situation to be involved in but we’re trained in CPR and did everything we could to get her breathing again, which thankfully she did.”
Claire said: “There is no doubt in my mind that the outcome could have been so different for Darcy had the ambulance crews, Dr Morris and the staff at the hospital not worked their magic.
“To say it was the most shocking and most memorable day in my life is an understatement – it was totally unexpected, hugely emotional but ultimately, I have the most incredible little girl anybody could wish for.
“I think those horseshoes that morning must have brought me luck.”
Seeing the feet was the first realisation it was a baby