How little Jax Johnston’s life was saved by quick-thinking brother

It began as a precautionary drive to hospital and ended in a life and death battle played out of the side of the road. And it’s mainly thanks to the actions of big brother Koby that three-year-old Jax is alive today. WATCH THE VIDEO

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Jax Johnston is too young to fully understand it but he’s only here thanks to the quick actions of his big brother Koby.

The 12-year-old spotted his young brother had stopped breathing and then rang the ambulance and explained the situation as their mother desperately applied CPR to Jax.

“I’m so proud of Koby, he is a beautiful boy … if it weren’t for Koby telling me, I would not have got to Jax in time and Koby told the operators exactly where we were, it was amazing,” their mum Jessie Baldwin, 32, told The Sunday Telegraph.

“He was nervous but he did an amazing job.”

Jax Baldwin, 3, is alive today thanks to the quick-thinking of big brother Koby who noticed he had stopped breathing. Picture: David Swift

It was another crisis in a drama-filled life for young Jax.

Jax has a rare genetic condition that was only discovered when he had a cardiac arrest at home in Tamworth at 18 months. He was “brought back” 11 times but doctors at the Children’s Hospital Westmead warned Ms Baldwin he would not survive.

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“They told me I had two weeks and to turn off the machine, but he bounced back,” the mother of five said.

Back home, Jax carried on with life like any normal toddler. But, last September, he was unwell with a virus and his mum was taking no chances.

“He was breathing funny so I got in the car and Koby got in the back seat with him,” she said.

“After the last heart attack, I’ve talked to my children about what to watch for and all my children know to look at Jax’s belly for breathing, and how fast he is breathing.

Jax and Koby have had a close bond since Jax was born three years ago.

Jax after suffering his first heart attack aged just 18 months.

“In the car, Koby was watching his belly the entire time and we got around the corner and he said: ‘Mum, his belly is not moving, he’s stopped breathing’.

“I stopped the car and got out, took Jax out, put him on the grass and started CPR while Koby called the ambulance, he did an amazing job and gave them the whole medical background,” Ms Baldwin said.

“He stopped breathing, and I was scared he was going to die forever,” Koby, 12, said.

Jessie Baldwin says she is so proud of her boys Koby and Jax. Picture: David Swift.

Within minutes Tamworth paramedic Todd Wheeler was on the scene. He was the same paramedic who saved Jax after his first cardiac arrest 18 months earlier.

“Koby’s initiative to recognise it and then back up and talk to the triple 0 operator was pretty good, he did all the right things,” Mr Wheeler said.

NSW Ambulance Commissioner Dominic Morgan said Koby had been being nominated by paramedics for a NSW Ambulance Bravery Award.

“Koby should be very proud of his actions, courage and quick thinking in such challenging circumstances,” Dr Morgan said.

Jax was flown to CHW where he was put on a heart-lung bypass machine and endured 14 surgeries in one week. He was too sick to be considered for a heart transplant.

“Again we were told he was not going to make it, to prepare ourselves, but I was in denial, I didn’t believe it, I just knew he’d come back and he did and he amazed everyone,” Ms Baldwin said.

Jax is now back home but the family faces a devastating choice.

He has a rare variant on the gene PPA2, which is responsible for sudden infant death from cardiac arrest. His heart is also damaged from the two attacks and he could go into cardiac arrest again at any time.

Jax with NSW paramedic Jessica Townsend. Picture: David Swift

“His heart is damaged and he has a rare genetic condition where his cells do not hold energy the way normal cells do. Most children with this PPA2 gene pass away between two and four. We don’t know how much time he has left.”

The condition means a heart transplant will likely be rejected or lead to the same outcome as the gene is in every cell in his body.

“We’d do anything to keep him, he’s a miracle and he is so happy. Do we just let him be a kid rather than put him through more pain? The option is still there for a heart transplant, but he is just so happy at the moment.”

The family hold onto the fact that Jax is pretty tough.

“We just take one day at a time and he always defies the odds,” Ms Baldwin said.

Ironically, Ms Baldwin at one time thought Jax was the healthiest of her children.

Her oldest daughter Charlotte, 14, has Type 1 diabetes, Koby, 12, has ADHD, Brooklyn, 9, has Down syndrome and has had open heart surgery for her congenital heart disease, Jax has the heart issue and Samara, 2, is deaf.

When Jax was in a coma, Samara had just been born and she too was in intensive care with congenital cytomegalovirus, which attacks the brain and eyes, and Charlotte was also in coma as she was then undiagnosed with diabetes.

“I had three very unwell children at the time in hospital, we have spent a lot of time in hospital,” Ms Baldwin said.

Originally published as How little Jax Johnston’s life was saved by quick-thinking brother