Baby Hat

Baby Hat was born with a congenital heart disorder, in the West this would have been picked up antenatally, she would have surgery soon after birth as without surgery most infants die within a year.

The first sign of problems emerged when baby Hat was 7 months old, she was extremely breathless. Luang Prabang is a relatively small, remote town in the mountains in the north of Laos, Hat and her family live a 6 hour drive, on a dirt road, away. The doctors there advised she had a major heart problem and that nothing could be done.

Her uncle knew a Lao-Australian family living in Luang Prabang, Hat's family wanted to do everything to save her. After some phone calls the family decided they would travel here to seek more expert medical help. When she arrived at a local hospital I was asked to see her, she was very unwell, her heart was failing. The only life saving option was urgent surgery, however there are no heart surgeons in Laos. I was out of my depth so emailed doctor friends at home and at MaeLa refugee camp for advice.

Word spread amongst the local ex-pat community who gave emotional, practical and financial support to Hat and her family. There are specialist paediatricians in the capital Vientiane, I spoke to them and they advised transfer in order to stabilise her heart failure in ITU and then to arrange surgery in a Thai hospital.

I was concerned she was not strong enough to survive the journey, 10 hours by road or an hours flight and I didn't want her to suffer. The ex-pats and the Friends Without A Border raised money swiftly so that was not a problem, her family were aware of the risks and decided if there was even small hope they wanted to try everything to save her and would fly to Vientiane.

We tried to arrange a nurse to travel with the family to monitor her oxygen levels which kept falling from normal levels of 95% down to 20-30% and to have a oxygen on stand-by to treat if Hat became hypoxic. The airline would not allow oxygen on the flight, the family decided they just had to get to the specialist help asap. Baby Hat arrived in Vientiane and was admitted to ITU. But sadly the next day had cardiac arrest and later died.

It felt pretty helpless, frustrated and sad. Where you're born is a lottery and there are huge health inequalities in the world. If Baby Hat was born in a developed country, the likelihood is that she would have a relatively normal life. She was born in a poor country where there is limited healthcare and what is available is often unaffordable. In this setting Hat lived a very short life of 7 months, it's tragic, unfair and heart-breaking for her family.

I was inspired by the sensitivity, thoughtfulness and action of the ex-pats. When I first met baby Hat I had a feeling the outcome would not be good, I wasn't sure whether I was being a pessimist or if I was being realistic, it was good to listen to other views - to do everything possible to save her life. Once Hat's family made their decisions we were all collectively willing her on, she was a fighter. I had just met this group of people and was grateful for their support and admired their passion and compassion.

I've been reminded why I'm here, even small changes will make a huge difference to the heath and well-being of the children of Laos. In the future babies like Hat need to be treated by specialists near to their home, I really hope this happens.

If you'd like to know more about Friends Without A Border, who I'm working with, check their website www.fwab.org