Thomas flies home to receive neonatal care
Brighton
Middlesbrough
300 miles
Thomas was born three months early at 28 weeks gestation whilst his parents were in the middle of relocating. Being born so prematurely, he was cared for in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Royal Sussex County Hospital.
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Thomas's parents, Jasmine and Lee, were so grateful for the care that Thomas was receiving at the hospital in Brighton, but he arrived just before their planned move across the country to Middlesbrough. They knew Thomas had a long hospital stay ahead of him, and were worried about how they would care for him whilst dealing with this big move.
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The closest NICU to their new home was at James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough. This was over 300 miles from where Thomas was currently being cared for in Brighton. Thomas wouldn't be able to withstand a 300-mile journey by road ambulance, so Lia's Wings stepped in to fly him by aeroplane in our flight-ready incubuator.
On transfer day, our Flight Team collected Thomas from the Royal Sussex County Hospital. He was placed in our incubator where he stayed snug until reaching the new hospital. Thomas was the first child to use our brand new piece of equipment, the Transporter+ Trolley, that was developed especially for our charity by ParAid. This provided Thomas with a smooth transfer between hospitals and ensured our flight teams didn’t have to manually lift any part of our incubator.
Jasmine and Lee unfortunately couldn't accompany Thomas on the air transfer, but the Lia's Wings Flight Nurse, Clare, ensured they were kept up to date at every step of the journey.
Jasmine and Lee were so happy to be reunited with their little boy at the new hospital in Middlesbrough. He settled in really quickly.
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After two months in hospital, Thomas was finally discharged home. Jasmine, Lee and Thomas could finally start their new life together as a family of three.
