A Shrewsbury mother and her miracle baby have defied the odds after coming through a traumatic pregnancy – with surgeons saying they are lucky to be alive.
When Jodie Thomas, of Woodfield Avenue, Copthorne, was 23 weeks pregnant she was rushed to hospital to have her appendix removed. During the life-threatening procedure Mrs Thomas was cut open and stapled up again.
Three weeks later on December 21 she gave birth 14 weeks prematurely to her son Sam, who weighed just under two pounds and fitted into the palm of his dad Stuart’s hand.
Sam spent just over three months in an incubator at the neonatal unit at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, where he had three blood transfusions. On Easter Sunday he was allowed home for the first time, and because of his underdeveloped lungs he has to be linked up to an oxygen supply 24 hours a day.
Mrs Thomas, who also has a two-year-old daughter Sian, said: “It took two weeks for doctors to realise the pain I was experiencing was my appendix, by which point it was quite serious.
“My husband had to sign a consent form for me and Sam and the main risk at that point was the anaesthetic. When surgeons cut me open to see what they were dealing with they said we’d been very lucky, and it is when a surgeon says that that you realise how serious it was. They did say it was one of the worst cases they had seen.
“It was horrendous. We thought it couldn’t get any worse with the appendix and then with Sam being born and him having to spend three to four months in hospital – it’s been awful.
“When Sam was born he was almost translucent and had around two layers of skin – an adult has around 150 layers of skin. As soon as Sam came home all the stresses and worries left.”
Seventeen-week-old Sam now weighs seven pounds and is ‘greedy’ with his milk. It is expected he will make a full recovery.
And as a thank you to hospital staff who helped save their son’s life, Mr Thomas will undertake a 300-mile cycle ride, accompanied by his brother-in-law Andrew Kendrick and friend Dan Bevington, to raise £3,000 for the neonatal unit trust fund.
The trio will cycle up to 60 miles a day from May 29-June 2 around mid and north Wales.
Mr Thomas, a development control manager for Shropshire Council, said: “It was a tremendously traumatic and emotional time for my family and we will be eternally grateful for the care and support of the staff on the neonatal baby unit. Their professionalism, care and dedication to duty saved our son’s life in those critical first few hours and the days and weeks that followed.”
He added £1,500 has been raised over the past month but the men hope to raise £1,000 each.
To help support the cycle ride, search for The Neonatal Unit Fundraising Bike Ride on social networking site Facebook or email thomas555@hotmail.co.uk
By Charlotte Hester