Carter's story

Carter was born with a diaphragmatic hernia in July 2010. His condition meant he was only born with only one lung and was transferred to The Children’s Hospital when he was just four days old. The severity of his condition has meant he spent nearly a year in our hospital.

Dad Barry explains: “Before he was born doctors told us Carter’s stomach and bowel were in his shoulder and chest area where his left lung should be, pushing his heart to the right hand side of his chest. They said that Carter’s chances of survival at this point were 50:50.

“As soon as he was born he was sedated and paralysed so that he did not breathe on his own and cause himself any more damage. He was then transferred to The Children's Hospital’s Neonatal Surgical Unit and was operated on at four days old, the surgeon pulling his intestines back down into his stomach.

“Carter grew stronger and was out of hospital eight weeks later, but only a couple of months later he was rushed back to hospital by ambulance.

"The most serious case the doctor had ever seen"

“Doctors suspected he had a perforated bowel and performed emergency surgery that day. The operation lasted almost six hours and the surgeon told us it was the most serious case he had ever seen. Myself and my partner Laura were told his next 24 hours would be critical.

“Pressure was building up in his body causing his organs to shut down. The only solution was to open his stomach to let the pressure out. The doctors told us to expect the worst. He was too ill to take to theatre so the surgical team and their equipment had to be brought up from theatre.

“During surgery Carter’s heart stopped and the medical team performed CPR to bring him back to us.

"The staff's dedication was amazing"

”The doctors told us that although the operation had released the pressure on his organs, there was still a lot of pressure and fluid on his lungs. The pressures were still too high for the ventilator to be effective. A staff nurse was helping keep him alive by squeezing a bag filled with air attached to his mouth and nose - she did this for three hours. The staff's dedication was amazing.

“Around 15 medical people were still frantically working as a team on different parts of his body to try and keep him alive. The consultant in charge told us that Carter was not getting oxygen into his blood and he was very sick but there was one more thing for him to try. He started Carter on Nitric Oxide and explained that he didn’t know if it would work but they wanted to give him every chance possible.

"Christmas miracle"

“Amazingly it worked. Carter very slowly started getting better. One doctor described him to us as the most poorly patient in the hospital. Quite an achievement for someone so young! Later he was described as the ‘Christmas miracle’ as the extent of his condition meant he shouldn't be here.

“Ten days later Carter suffered further complications with his bowel and needed further emergency surgery but after this Carter got better really fast and was off the ventilator and transferred to the hospital’s High Dependency Unit and then on to a ward.

“However on 29 December Carter started to struggle to breathe and an emergency team came up to the ward and put a tube down his throat to ventilate him on the ward and they then transferred him back down to ICU. Carter had managed to have two separate life threatening conditions in the space of 2 weeks.

“Carter had two more visits to the Intensive Care Unit when he suffered infections but on 12 May he was well enough to have an operation to reverse his stoma, which are two surgical incisions which help him with his bowel movements.

"After four hours in theatre the surgeon explained that Carter was on the ventilator in ICU as a precaution due to a high temperature and would probably be on the ventilator a day or two. Carter being Carter had other plans! Half an hour after the conversation with the surgeon and he was off the ventilator! Carter had managed to push the tube up and was breathing around the tube. He was back up to surgical ward within the week.

Discharged

“Carter continued to recover really well and on 7th June Carter was discharged and let home! At home, Carter is on two different inhalers to help his lungs and help prevent any breathing trouble. Carter still needs regular appointments to check his lungs as he only had one at birth and the other is slowly growing. 

“Until Carter was born I had absolutely no idea that we had some of the best medical equipment and people in the county right on our doorstep. Every single person in the hospital really cares. The staff genuinely can’t wait to look after the patients and would always come over to see Carter and have a quick cuddle. We have even had nurses call in on their day off to check how he is.

“If it wasn't for this hospital, its staff and equipment our son would not be here. The staff are amazing people who not only save lives but help support parents through the very difficult times, ensuring we understood everything that was going on and lightening our days with general chit chat. The nurses became our friends who we could talk our worries through with.”