What happened with Arthur

In Takaka on the 28th January 2019, I was home with our three year old son Arthur, the rest of the family were cooling off swimming in the river down the road but Arthur had been a bit unwell with a cough since Christmas and seemed to have gone down-hill with another cold. His breathing was really labored and when he fell asleep after walking the short distance across the lounge I knew something was off and drove to the doctors straight away to get him checked out, suspecting he may have had pneumonia.

The doctors and nurses were great and checked him out straight away. His breathing was still very labored and we were all unsure of what exactly was going on. It all became a bit of a blur after this point, after getting some help for his breathing he went unresponsive. I was really worried now and was trying to hold back the panic & tears as the team got him ready to be taken by Helicopter to Nelson Hospital.

The rescue helicopter team quickly arrived and were so amazing. They spoke gently and reminded me to stay calm for Arthur, while keeping a close eye on my precious boy monitoring him as we traveled to Nelson.

I spent the trip with my eyes glued to my precious boy, praying that he would be OK. Thankfully as we arrived into the Nelson area he came to and woke up, slightly terrified as to where he was. The guys helped calm him and after arriving at the hospital and receiving some extra oxygen, medication, an x-ray and overnight observation he was allowed to go home the next day.

I’m so very grateful to the Nelson Marlborough Rescue Helicopter for their quick service and for taking such good care of us. It was quite a scary episode and it brings me a lot of relief knowing that we have the rescue helicopter available when things go wrong!

Arthur has been asked a lot about riding in the helicopter, he can’t remember being on it, but I tell him the story of what happened and hold him close, ever grateful my little guy is alright.

Much love,
Holly
(Arthur’s Mum)