Two-and-a-half-month-old infant Ken from Vanuatu was transferred, accompanied by his mother Bernadette, by air ambulance from Vila Central Hospital to Auckland’s Starship Children’s Hospital on 5 June this year in a critically ill condition. He was accompanied by paramedic Mike Benjamin from Port Vila, who managed Ken’s oxygen supply and medical care during the journey.

Ken was born with total anomalous pulmonary venous return (TAPVR), a congenital cardiac defect in which the normal return of oxygen-rich blood to the heart is disrupted, causing a range of serious problems and requiring urgent surgical correction.

Upon arrival and stabilisation, Ken was admitted to Starship’s paediatric intensive care unit, where he remained for two nights. His cardiac surgery was performed on 10 June. The procedure was most successful and the infant’s post-operative improvement, while pleasing to his medical team, was nothing short of miraculous for his anxious mother!

Ken was discharged—sooner than expected—in the third week of June. At this point, mother and son were welcomed by Ronald McDonald House (RMH) Auckland Domain. Ken gained almost half a kilogram in a single week—a remarkable turnaround from the critical state in which he arrived in New Zealand.

Liz Thomson and Celia Fullerton-Smith (Rotary Club of Downtown Auckland) played the often unsung but vital role of guiding and supporting Bernadette through daily life in an unfamiliar setting, while the caring staff at RMH performed their usual magic.

With medical clearance to leave, Ken and Bernadette flew home to Santo on 15 July. Now, for the first time since her baby’s birth, Bernadette can focus on the simpler joys and challenges of motherhood.