Coby can’t remember how many times her son Jenson went a shade of blue during the first weeks of his life.
The baby boy was born four months premature and had to fight to survive.
“He weighed a tiny 762 grams, and because of his extreme prematurity his lungs were far from ready to breathe on their own”, explains Coby.
As well as being premature, he was born a long way from home – his mum, Coby, went into labour suddenly while on a trip to Melbourne from Brisbane. After battling for three months on breathing support, he was finally stable enough to go home.
Because he was still fragile, he had to travel in an infant incubator – so the Flying Doctor was the only way to get him back to Brisbane.
“We met the RFDS team in Melbourne. Kate Dickinson was the Flight Nurse and Dave [Jenson’s dad] said he had nothing but a positive experience. Everyone was lovely and made sure he and Jenson were looked after the entire time.”
The Flying Doctor patient ambulance transported him from the hospital to the airport, where the RFDS aircraft and crew waited to take him all the way home.
Thanks to generous donations from Flying Doctor supporters, we had the specialist equipment and highly trained crew on-board the aircraft to keep Jenson safe.
“We couldn’t have got home without the Flying Doctor. We can’t say thank you enough and we appreciate the team being there for us when we needed them”, says a thankful Coby.
The Flying Doctor can only continue to provide 24-hour emergency care, 365 days a year across a vast area of 7.69 million square kilometres, with your help. Please consider making a donation today to keep the Flying Doctor in the air!
