CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The mother of Victoria baby is grateful for the work of the Driscoll Children's Hospital Transport Team.
The team was dispatched on Sept. 17 to DeTar Hospital in Victoria to transport 16-day-old Skylar Saenz Jr. to Driscoll Children's Hospital.
"By the time we got to the hospital, he had died twice," Skylar's mother Breanna Burleson said. "We were on ECMO for five days. He ended up having a stroke.
"We found out that he had heart arrhythmia due to a missing piece of his heart which is allowing electricity to get down and spin around in a circle .. causing a severe form of PAC ecardia,” said Burleson.
Doctors say Skylar’s condition meant he needed to be airlifted. But due to weather in the area, the transport team couldn’t fly.
"We are coming in at those parents' worst moment and we are moms, we are dads, we are brothers, we are cousins," said Jeremy Goodman, director of the critical care transport team. "We care for that patient just like they're our own."
Burleson said during the 105-minute drive to Driscoll Hospital, the driver talked to her which helped her to stay relaxed.
"By the time I had reached Driscoll, I was almost completely calm," she said. "He was really really nice and he calmed me down.”
After his treatment, Burleson said that Skylar has trouble swallowing and goes to speech therapy to assist in re-learning swallowing. But he he has no other serious complications and is doing well.
"In honesty, we owe completely to the EMT's, the doctors at Driscoll, and God himself because this is just a miracle that this is even happening,” she said.
For more information on The Driscoll Transport Team services you can visit their website here.
