Finley, 22 months, Wiltshire
Oxygen deprivation at birth
Amy and Chris tell us about the dramatic arrival of their son Finley.
The birth
‘My pregnancy had been fine all the way through, right up to the very end. When I was in labour, it became apparent he was in distress because he pooed inside me and at this point, they decided to do an emergency C-section. When he was born, he didn’t breathe or cry’ says Amy.
‘As they pulled him out, he gasped which caused him to inhale his meconium. He choked on that and that’s when he was deprived of oxygen’ Chris explains. ‘We didn’t realise the seriousness at this stage. Fin was taken to Intensive Care Unit and when we got there, he had a brain tracer on which indicated that they’d picked something abnormal up. They sent his reading to St Michael’s Hospital in Bristol. Within an hour, they had come to us in Swindon which is where we found out that he was eligible for the cooling and Xenon trial. We had to make a really quick decision but we both felt that anything that could help him was worth doing.’
Coming home
‘It was really hard while he was in hospital’ remembers Chris. ‘You couldn’t hold him in case you heated him up. Leaving every night was awful. It did bring us closer together though.’
After 9 days in hospital, Finley was finally able to go home although has check-ups every six months.
‘He’s nearly two now and is such a cheeky, loving boy,’ Amy says. ‘He’s a little bit behind on his speech but other then that, he’s hitting all his milestones. He will be starting school in September which will be really good for him, he loves other children.’
‘We were given a leaflet explaining about the cooling and xenon treatment. It said it was being funded by Sparks’ continues Amy. ‘It’s amazing to know that there’s a charity funding this research. If this wasn’t happening, Finley wouldn’t have had the treatment and we’d be in a very different situation. We’re very grateful to everyone who supports the charity.’
How Sparks is helping
Professor Marianne Thoresen was part of a research group that developed the first effective treatment against brain injury in infants – cooling to 33.5˚C for 72 hours. Thanks to this technique and the research already funded by Sparks, the lives of hundreds of babies have already been saved.
Despite their achievements, Professor Thoresen and her team think they can do better. Their goal is to test a new technique of administering xenon gas during the cooling treatment.
They hope to develop safe and affordable treatment that helps babies to survive with less brain injury. By improving the effectiveness of this already successful treatment, this project will help to prevent even more brain injuries at birth.
Find out more about Sparks research projects into oxygen deprivation.