Hornsea boy flown by the Children’s Air Ambulance as a premature baby celebrates his fifth birthday!

A boy from Hornsea, East Yorkshire who was transferred by the Children’s Air Ambulance when he was four days old – after being born prematurely by emergency caesarean – is celebrating his 5^th birthday today (6 August).

Myles is now a healthy and happy little boy who will be joining Year One when he goes back to school in September.

His mum Kaley describes him as “kind and loving” and “always on the go.” As the second youngest of five brothers, he has lots of playmates and he especially likes building things with Lego.

She and Myles’s dad Ian are forever grateful to the Children’s Air Ambulance for transferring Myles from the Pilgrim Hospital, Boston to Scunthorpe General Hospital after his unexpected early arrival into the world in 2015.

“Without the help of the Children’s Air Ambulance Myles may not have made it,” says Kaley.

The family were on a day out at Fantasy Island amusement park in Skegness when Kaley started bleeding – seven weeks before her due date.

She was admitted to hospital where she was diagnosed with placenta praevia, a complication that can occur in pregnancy when the placenta blocks the opening of the womb and causes bleeding.

As a result, Myles was born by emergency caesarean section, weighing just 4lbs 14oz.

He needed phototherapy, his lungs were weak, and he had to be fed through a tube. Not only was this distressing to Myles, but also to his parents who had to sit by and helplessly watch.

As Myles’s condition started to stabilise, Kaley began her slow recovery from the emergency caesarean. What didn’t help was the distress caused by being separated from her other young sons and the support of her family – who were two hours away by road.

This is when the Children’s Air Ambulance, working with a specialist neo-natal team from Embrace – Yorkshire & Humber Infant & Children’s Transport Service (part of Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust) – were able to get Myles to a hospital nearer to home.

The helicopter took off from its then base in Coventry and flew to Barnsley to collect the Embrace team and then on to Boston to pick up Myles and fly him, with the Embrace team, to Scunthorpe General Hospital.

The flight took just 20 minutes compared with a road journey of approximately 90 minutes.

Kaley and Ian drove to Scunthorpe and were reunited with their son in the hospital’s neonatal unit. He stayed there for a week before being transferred even closer to home to Scarborough Hospital -from where he was finally discharged aged three weeks old.

Kaley says:

“I don’t know how we would have coped if the Children’s Air Ambulance had not been there to help us. I had never been away from my boys before, especially not the little one-year-old. They needed their mum.”

The Children’s Air Ambulance relies on public support to help little patients, like Myles, to be able to celebrate their birthdays. To help more babies and children, click here