Theo’s Story

Flying for the first time with a 3-week-old baby was something first-time parent Bethany never expected to do. But following a visit to Truro’s Royal Cornwall Hospital A&E after Theo experienced breathing difficulties, a flight to St. Mary’s Hospital in Paddington was inevitable.

“We could tell that Theo wasn’t himself. I’d been told earlier in the day that his observations were stable but, if we were still concerned, we should take him to hospital – and because of our gut instinct we decided to take him,” explains Bethany. On arrival Theo was quickly taken to the Resuscitation Department in a critical condition, where doctors worked hard to help him breathe. It became clear that Theo needed specialist care and the Children’s Air Ambulance was called to make a critical difference.

“Alfie [Children’s Air Ambulance, Head of Operations] and the WATCh team sat down with me to tell me what was going to happen, and really put my mind at ease. It was my first time flying so I was incredibly grateful for the team making me feel so relaxed. It felt like the weight was lifted off my shoulders. They may have been strangers at that moment in time, but they knew exactly what they were doing so I was confident handing my baby over to them.”

You don’t need to fly with us to be an essential part of our team. Your decision to donate is lifechanging to so many.

Thanks to your donations, the Children’s Air Ambulance flew from Oxford to Bristol to collect a specialist paediatric revival team from Wales and West Acute Transport for Children Service (WATCh).

Theo was then flown to London with Bethany while Kieren followed by train. This was a 268-mile journey that would have taken around 5 hours by road, an unthinkable distance at such a critical time. Instead, the flight took just two hours and three minutes.

The WATCh team stabilised Theo upon arrival in St Mary’s Hospital Intensive Care Unit and Theo’s parents could finally breathe a sigh of relief. They learnt that Theo had suffered with Bronchiolitis and Rhino-enterovirus, and because he was so little, his body’s way of coping was to stop breathing.

Theo finished a lifesaving course of antibiotics and is now doing well. Thankfully, it isn’t re-occurring and shouldn’t affect him in the future.

“I hadn’t heard of the Children’s Air Ambulance until we needed them, and we are so grateful for the service they provided,” says Bethany.

Theo’s story is just one that had a positive outcome because of all our amazing supporters. We couldn’t do this without you, thank you.