Thomas Hart B.III, came into the world with all the odds against him. Weighing only 1.8 pounds, the tiny son of Tricia and Tom was born at 25 weeks’ gestation with a heart defect that required surgery.
The couple was in Cape Cod last September visiting Tom’s family when Tricia went into premature labor. She was rushed to Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital where Thomas was born. Five days later, he underwent open heart surgery to close a duct in his heart, remaining in the neo-natal unit for 12 weeks.
Tricia remained by his side but yearned to go home to Carlsbad, California where she and the baby could be with Tom and find a nearby hospital. “It kills us that we can’t be together,” Tricia told Jessica Heslam, a reporter for the Boston Globe, which featured the story in its Dec. 14 issue.
The San Diego Tribune also reported the story (see “Ultimate New Year’s Present” http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20051231/news_1mi31baby), with both newspapers mentioning Air Compassion America’s role.
Tricia and Tom learned about ACAM through a friend, whose baby was also born at 25 weeks. “Air Compassion is a life-saver,” she wrote in a thank you note. The organization was able to arrange a flight home for mom and baby on Dec. 18, in time for Christmas . They flew on a Learjet, with ACAM finding a flight for $16,000, half the price quoted by most private air ambulance companies. Friends of the family and business associates of Tricia’s father and sister raised $20,000, with the extra funds going to the neonatal unit at Brigham and Women’s hospital. Click here for more stories |
