Our first US neonatal transfer: Jude’s story
- 13 hours ago
- 4 min read
"Every message and call was so heartfelt that we could feel the love from Alabama."
Jude was born at just 24 weeks gestation, more than four months early, via surrogate at UAB Hospital in Birmingham, Alabama. Because of his extreme prematurity, he required neonatal intensive care, including constant monitoring and support to help him breathe.
For his parents, Jake and Becca, the shock of Jude’s early arrival was intensified by distance. Their family home was thousands of miles away in Chislehurst, Kent, while their newborn son fought to grow stronger in a hospital on the other side of the world.
With Jude incredibly fragile in the United States, the family faced an overwhelming reality of navigating complex medical decisions, a surrogate birth, and a prolonged separation from home, all while trying to remain present for their older son in the UK.
To support the family, Jude’s parents were referred to Lia’s Wings, a UK charity that supports families facing medical crisis abroad and helps them navigate a way home. A leading neonatal consultant at a US Medical Centre of Excellence recommended our service based on our strong reputation for managing highly complex neonatal transfers across the world.
From the outset, our priority was to reduce the burden on the family wherever possible and support them as much as possible. Jude’s family had to make many decisions in terms of bringing him home, and Lia’s Wings quickly became a guiding voice, playing an impartial, compassionate role to help them feel comfortable and confident in the choices they were making.
Becca and Jake reflected:
"When Jude was born at 24 weeks through surrogacy in the US, we knew we had a long journey ahead of us. Lia’s Wings, and in particular Charlotte, showed us love and compassion in getting us home. Every message and call was so heartfelt that we could feel the love from Alabama."
Due to the long distance of the transfer and based on Jude’s clinical needs, we knew collaboration was key. Transporting an extremely premature baby across the Atlantic required meticulous planning and specialist care. We worked with IAS Medical (a UK based international air ambulance commercial operator), and CATS (Children’s Acute Transport Service based at Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital) to provide a long range, fully mobile neonatal intensive care unit to bring Jude home safely, with not just the highest standard of medical care, but also surrounded by support, care and compassion.
Throughout the process, Jake and Becca showed remarkable strength, balancing fear and hope, distance and responsibility, while holding their family together across two continents.
For Lia’s Wings, this referral marked a significant milestone. Jude’s journey became our first-ever aeromedical transfer from the USA. He was flown from Alabama to King’s College Hospital in London, where he could access the long-term neonatal care he needed.
Mark, the Patient and Family Liaison Manager at IAS Medical, was instrumental in planning Jude’s journey home. Reflecting on the mission, he said to the family: “I want to thank all three of you for putting your trust in IAS Medical, CATS & Lia’s Wings, to provide such an important mission. I think I speak for us all when I say we felt privileged to be a part of your journey, and we look forward to receiving updates on Jude’s progress.”
Just over a year ago, Jude landed safely at King’s College Hospital. At the time, his future felt uncertain, but today, he is home in Kent, reaching milestones that once felt impossibly far away. What a difference a year makes.
Becca recently shared this update with us:
“Jude came home a year ago on the 13th February 2025 after 209 days in hospital. He is such a happy baby who keeps us all entertained and his laugh is so infectious! He has achieved a lot in the last year from being NG fed to bottle fed to gobbling down solids, weaning off his oxygen and now moving around. He is such a strong character with heaps of determination. We could not be prouder!"
She also expressed her gratitude for the support they received from Lia's Wings:
"You are all so wonderful, and we cannot thank you enough for bringing Jude home. I still have to pinch myself that he’s here because for a while it felt like I was going to be living in Alabama for a while!!! We have been telling everyone about you, and you are such a huge part of Jude’s story, thank you.”
We are incredibly proud to have used our expertise and specialist resources to help bring Jude home and reunite his family. Supporting Jake, Becca and Jude was more than arranging an air transfer, but helping carry some of the weight during one of the hardest journeys a family can face.
