Our family was blessed with twin baby boys in May 2020, two babies that we had dreamed into life.
We had wanted so much to expand our family of three, and 7 years later, Ernest (Ernie) and Francis proved they were worth the wait.
Only a day after birth, we noticed Francis was working hard to breathe. As it turns out, our baby Francis was born with a hole in his heart incompatible with life.
Francis needed a lifesaving operation in Melbourne, over 3,700 km away from our home in Darwin. The distance felt like 10 lifetimes as we watched every effort-filled rise and fall of Francis’ chest. I could never have imagined that someone weighing just a little over 3 kg would be the strongest person I would ever meet. As the teams in Darwin and Melbourne talked, our family prayed, and our prayers were answered when the Humpty Dumpty Transport Incubator rolled into his hospital room.
In the Northern Territory (NT), a family like ours would have no guarantee that their baby would get to Melbourne in time. Sick babies in the NT need to be transported by plane in a transport incubator, with a specialist team trained on the equipment. For this to happen, the equipment needs to be requested from one of the capital cities, like Melbourne or Sydney. For babies in the NT this can, and has been, too long to wait. Now that the Humpty Dumpty Foundation has provided the people of the NT with a transport incubator, families with babies like Francis don’t have to wait and see if lifesaving transport will make it in time.
The Humpty Transport Incubator is a little ICU on wheels and looks like a spaceship. When it sat next to Francis, I looked over it carefully, and I can distinctly remember seeing all the different names on the many pieces of equipment attached. I cannot remember the exact name of each person etched onto the cot, but I would like to think that they all helped carry Francis safely to Melbourne.
We held our breath as our brave little boy had open heart surgery at just 22 days old. Francis did not just survive – he thrived!
Francis is like the sun; he is life-giving; he is the child that every family dreams of and this world needs. From a mother who holds her child in her arms every day because of the Humpty Dumpty Foundation, all the water in the ocean and all the stars in the sky are less than all my ‘thank you’s.’
By Xaviera Farrell