Twin baby Archie du Preez’s great adventure ends in heartache

It’s a decision no parent should ever have to make, but when the heart-wrenching moment arrived for this Brisbane couple, this is what happened after they signed a “do not resuscitate” form for their infant son.

TO anyone else in Brisbane’s City Botanical Gardens that day, it might have looked like a normal family outing of tired new parents pushing their twin boys in matching prams.

Except, that is, for the six medical staff standing nearby, a machine with tubes attached to one of the babies and the matching onesies emblazoned with “Archie’s great adventure.”

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It was 5-month-old Archie’s first and only day out of hospital before he passed away under the stars from a combination of incurable Neonatal Chronic Lung Disease and a rare Interstitial Lung Disease with Alveolar Growth Abnormalities.

It was also “one of the greatest days of our lives” for parents Jenna and Steven du Preez and Archie’s twin brother, Henry.

Twins Archie and Henry du Preez on Archie's great adventure day on January 16, 2019. Photo: du Preez/Facebook.

They had trodden the path through Brisbane’s city botanic gardens between their home and first the Mater Mother’s, and then the Queensland Children’s Hospital, for months to visit Archie.
But this time was special. This time it was the only time they would ever visit a park together as a family of four.

Mrs du Preez, 33, said she and her husband had spent the day, on January 16, relishing in the fact they were able to bring their baby home for a few hours, something they never thought would be a reality.

“It was a dream come true,” she said.

Twins Archie and Henry du Preez on Archie's great adventure day on January 16, 2019. Photo: du Preez/Facebook.

Archie and Henry were born by Caesarean on August 4, 2018 at 30 weeks and four days gestation.

Mrs du Preez had been hospitalised two weeks prior due to ruptured membranes with Henry, but there had been no indications either baby were anything but healthy.

Henry was born first, followed by his little brother two minutes later.

“Within 40 seconds of birth he was ventilated. They knew immediately something wasn’t quite right,” she said.

“They were born on a Saturday and we were told on the first night that there’s a chance he wouldn’t make it past the weekend.

“Then (doctors) didn’t think Archie would make it past a week or a month but he kept surprising everyone at every turn.”

Interstitial lung disease in infants comprises a large spectrum of rare respiratory disorders that are mostly chronic and associated with high morbidity and mortality, according to the Orphanet Journal of rare diseases.

Archie had to be permanently connected to a high flow machine which helped provide oxygen and pressure to keep his little lungs open.

Writing on their ‘du Preez’ Facebook page, Mrs du Preez said an immense amount of planning went in at short notice to make Archie’s great adventure a reality, and was only possible thanks to staff members from the Queensland Children’s Hospital, Queensland Pallative Care and the Queensland Ambulance Service.

“Over the past three days, we’ve worked closely with the palliative care team who kindly arranged for Archie’s Great Adventure, the first of its kind in the history of the ward,” Mrs du Preez wrote.

Archie du Preez of Brisbane about to embark on Archie's great adventure day on January 16, 2019. Photo: du Preez/Facebook.

A few days earlier the travel bloggers had been informed by his respiratory specialist that their son was struggling to breathe and he had only days left to live.

Even with his mechanical support, Mrs du Preez said they were told Archie was unlikely to improve as his kidneys had attempted to overcompensate due to his high carbon dioxide levels.
The parents then had to make the difficult decision to sign a do not resusicate form.
“We wanted Archie to end it on his terms and our terms and outside of a hospital,” Mrs du Preez said.
The couple — who work for different accounting firms but also have a combined more than 40,000 followers across social media for their welltravelledman and welltravelledwoman blogs — were then asked by the palliative care staff if they had any wishes for Archie’s final days.
All the couple wanted was for their son to go home for the first time and to visit the gardens.
Mrs du Preez said overnight a nurse made the twins two sets of matching onesies for the special day.

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Once home, Archie was full of smiles as he got to lie in his own cot, play with his toys and help read a book to his brother.

An ambulance later took the family to the botanical gardens for Archie’s big trip through the park.

“To be able to walk along the path in the gardens that we walked with Henry every day to visit Archie for 100 days was something special,” Mrs du Preez said.

“We wanted Archie to see the trees and have the wind in his hair and see the river and to do all those things that most people take for granted with their babies.”

The proud mum said Archie loved being outside for the first time.

“He was smiling and looking around and he was just happy to be outside and moving around,” she said.

Paramedics provided a portable high flow machine for the 20 minute walk.

Steven and Jenna du Preez with Twins Henry and Archie on Archie's great adventure day on January 16, 2019. The Brisbane couple took Archie home and then took him for a walk through the City Botanic Gardens for the first and only time. Photo: du Preez/Facebook.

Steven and Jenna du Preez with twins Archie and Henry on Archie's great adventure day on January 16, 2019. Photo: du Preez/Facebook.

The du Preez family moved to the children’s hospice in Chermside, Hummingbird House, the next day.

Archie’s tubes were removed at 6.10pm January 17 with his family only expecting about 15 more minutes with him.

The family decided to spend their final hours together in the garden and when it became apparent the little fighter wasn’t done yet, the Hummingbird House staff brought a king single bed outside for the family.

“It was snug, it was lovely,” Mrs du Preez said.

“We held Archie the whole night. He just loved it.

“I did a walk around the garden in the middle of the night when I realised it was the first time in five and a half months that I could hold Archie and walk more than a metre away because he wasn’t connected to anything.”

A flock of birds flew over as little Archie took his last breath at sunrise on January 18.
“It was like a movie ... we’ll never forget that moment,” Mrs du Preez said.

A family member has set up Go Fund Me account to help pay for expenses, including Archie’s funeral, which is scheduled for this Thursday.

Steven and Jenna du Preez with twins Henry and Archie camping out under the stars at Hummingbird House for Archie's final night. Photo: du Preez/Facebook.