Hospital 'kept us going', say baby's parents

Arwell needs help with breathing and feeding because of the birth defect

A couple whose son has a rare birth defect said the support they received from a hospital had "kept us going".

Arwell, from Jersey, was born in July but his mother Jade said he "stopped breathing and went grey" when she was trying to breastfeed.

He was flown to Southampton Children's Hospital where he was given life-saving surgery - an experience his father Chris said was "a whirlwind".

Arwell was found to have oesophageal atresia and tracheo-oesophageal fistula (OA/TOF), two separate but related conditions that affect his food pipe and windpipe. He will require lifelong medical treatment.

Arwell had to be monitored and cared for in Southampton before he could go back to Jersey

The condition causes air to pass from the windpipe to the oesophagus and stomach and stomach acid to pass into the lungs, according to the NHS.

Jade had to wait to be medically cleared before she could fly off the island and join Arwell and Chris in the UK.

"It was quite daunting having him going into the operation without me seeing him again and even though we know the team there have a high success rate you still have the what-ifs come into your mind," she said.

Chris and Jade have praised the Southampton team that saved their son

Chris was with his son when he went into surgery.

"I didn't really sleep that night," he said.

"Everything was happening so fast so I wasn't really too conscious about what was going on at the time."

The team at Southampton Children's Hospital will continue to provide help for Arwell and his family.

Chris added: "Even this morning we phoned up the long-term ventilation [team] and they'll get back to us later today so at any point you can just phone up and then someone will be back in contact with us within 24 hours or quicker."

Jade and Chris want more people in Jersey to be aware of OA/TOF

Consultant paediatric surgeon Nigel Hall was part of the team at Southampton that helped save Arwell's life.

"It is often a huge surprise for families to be faced with this condition," he said.

"These babies require urgent surgery in the first few days of life.

"The operation involves making quite a large incision in the side of the chest to approach the problem and it's quite a big trauma for such a little baby to go through."

He added: "There's a huge gap in terms of knowledge about some of these really quite rare congenital anomalies."

The team at Southampton has a high success rate with this type of surgery

Mr Hall praised Jade and Chris for speaking about their experience in order to raise awareness for others.

"It would be great to have these challenges and these conditions more widely recognised," he said.

Jade and Chris also applauded the work of Mr Hall and his team in saving their son's life.

Mr Hall said: "It's a great privilege to be able to look after them and really gratifying to hear that what we do does make such a huge difference."