Fatima is our 7,000th retrieval!
A 19 day old baby was rushed to a hospital intensive care facility in Sydney by Telstra Child Flight on 7 July this year – the seventh day of the seventh month. This was not really a remarkable coincidence. Critically ill kids are airlifted by the service at least once and up to three times on any day. However, this baby, Fatima Kassem of Wollongong, was also Telstra Child Flight’s 7,000 th retrieval.

When Fatima’s mother, Abby, noticed she was uneasy and not feeding well, Fatima was taken in for a check-up. Nothing specific was discovered and Abby was given no reason to worry , but like all good mothers, she decided to keep a close watch on her baby girl.

The next day Fatima attended what started out as a fairly routine visit to a Pathologist. While there, Fatima turned blue. She was immediately admitted to Wollongong Hospital, her condition was diagnosed as critical and, in need of specialised neonatal care, Fatima would need to be transferred to intensive care in Sydney.

Meanwhile, back at Telstra Child Flight’s Westmead base, pilots Captain Stuart Hough and Co-pilot Wes Fang were on standby, prepared to fly. The next flight would be a milestone, marking the 7,000 th time the service had been called out in 21 years to help save the life of a NSW or ACT child. Within minutes of receiving the call from NETS, they powered up the chopper and set out to collect one very lucky little girl.

Fatima’s dad was stunned when Telstra Child Flight was called in. Like so many other people, Mohamad had never heard of such a specialised service and thought he may have misunderstood something. He was even more amazed when he was told it came without any cost.

Within 25 minutes the chopper arrived and little Fatima was put on a C-Pak ventilator. Abby was amazed at the technology. She said: “This machine actually did the breathing for Fatima – I was lost for words”.

Her baby appeared so ill, that Abby braced herself for “the worst” and could not take her eyes off Fatima’s monitor during the flight to Sydney. Even the doctors at Randwick were unable to make any promises. She had contracted RSV (Respiratory Synctial Virus).

It would take some days and a round-the-clock effort to stabilise Fatima, until she could finally be released from hospital into the care of her much-relieved parents. Abby summed up their relief and gratitude . “We absolutely owe everything to these people – words cannot explain just how much. They saved my daughter’s life”.

Seven must surely be Fatima's lucky number!