JANUARY

NO AMOUNT of time can prepare a new mum for the journey ahead.

However, for Townsville’s Samantha Hayden, time was cut drastically short when she went into early labour at just 27 weeks with twins Zachary and Sebastian.

“I started getting stomach cramps and went straight to the Townsville University Hospital so doctors could check on the boys, but that’s when I went into unexpected labour,” Samantha said.

“The nurses tried to postpone my labour because it was so premature, but before I knew it Zachary had other ideas, presenting to the world bottom first, so they rushed me in to have an emergency caesarean.”

Zachary and Sebastian were born just three minutes apart and were little more than the weight and size of a water bottle at just 1.1kg each.

FEBRUARY

BRAYLEN Macnamara was zooming around the house in his walker like a typical eight-month-old when a terrible accident saw the curious tot pull a burning hot pot on to himself.

It caused serious burns and he needed an emergency flight from Cloncurry to Townsville University Hospital.

Braylen Macnamara spent 16 days in the paediatric intensive care unit.

Braylen Macnamara spent 16 days in the paediatric intensive care unit.

“Thirty-five per cent of Braylen’s body was burnt, mostly full-thickness burns to his face, chest, upper arms, legs and belly,” Braylen’s mum Jenna said.

“Royal Flying Doctors flew him to Townsville, where he underwent skin grafts before being put into an induced coma to help with his pain.”

MARCH

LIVING almost 800km from a tertiary hospital with a youngster with a complex lung condition would be a concern for most parents, but not Dr Leonie Fromberg.

In March, Leonie’s son Neville caught a minor respiratory illness that was exacerbated by his non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis.

It’s a condition that significantly reduces his lungs’ ability to clean themselves.

“What would have made other children get a sniffle and a cough was something that put my son in a critical condition,” Leonie said.

“The middle lobe of Neville’s lung collapsed, and we went to Mount Isa and over the next 12 hours his condition deteriorated pretty quickly.

“I remember it was about 4am when we had the team from the paediatric intensive care unit in Townsville call in for a consult via telehealth.”

APRIL

AT JUST four weeks old, baby Emmie stopped breathing and turned blue while being cradled in her mother’s arms.

At five weeks, her lungs had collapsed three times, three viruses had hold of her tiny body and she was in Townsville University Hospital’s Paediatric Intensive Care Unit.

It’s every family’s worst nightmare, but eight months on mum Michaellie Tate credits her daughter’s extraordinary return to health to the Mackay and Townsville University Hospital teams.

“Emmie had experienced cold-like symptoms leading up to it, but it all changed when I was at my mother’s house and she coughed, stopped breathing and turned blue,” Michaellie said.

“Mum took her in her arms, looked at me and said ‘call an ambulance right now’.”

MAY

IT WAS May 5 this year when Mareeba local Kim Johnson received the call that her 15-year-old son Nathan had been involved in a serious workplace accident.

“I’d been mowing the lawn and went inside to find multiple missed calls from Nathan’s employer,” she said.

“Nathan was changing a grader tyre when a split rim came off and hit him in the face. He had multiple facial fractures, a lot of bone loss in his chin and his bottom jaw was in two pieces.

“He was flown straight to Townsville University Hospital by the Royal Flying Doctor Service and spent a week in PICU and endured major maxillofacial surgery.

“This included putting three plates into his face, having the multiple lacerations in his mouth sutured and his jaw wired together for six weeks to keep it stable.”

JUNE

WHEN Alanta Rogers and Max Perry’s normally active daughter Charlotte barely had enough energy to walk from her bedroom to the bathroom, they knew something was very wrong.

“Charlotte came down with a bit of a cold so we went to the doctor who told us it was viral and there was nothing we could do except wait it out,” Alanta said.

After multiple doctor visits and a week-and-a-half with no improvement, an at-home nurse for Alanta’s nan checked Charlotte’s oxygen levels, and, seeing they were dangerously low, the little girl was rushed to Mackay Base Hospital.

“She was barely breathing and her heart rate was extremely high,” Max said.

“After one look doctors rushed her straight into the resus room where she was sedated and intubated.”

JULY

AN afternoon of fun at his grandparent’s farm quickly turned to horror for Tayte Crisafulli, who suffered a serious brain injury.

The six-year-old boy was sitting on a quad bike with his brother Lyrik, 4, and grandfather at his farm near Ingham on July 21 when the freak accident occurred.

The boys’ mother Willow Howarth said she looked on in horror as the bike bounced forward into a cement pillar.

“I saw it happen, I thought I’d lost both my boys and just ran over screaming,” she said.

“They were all unconscious but Tayte wasn’t breathing, he was blue and I couldn’t find a pulse so we started doing CPR and brought him back.”

AUGUST

TRENT Atto is called the “miracle boy” after defying the odds to fight back from a traumatic brain injury suffered four months ago.

The 17-year-old was flown to Townsville Hospital by helicopter from Moranbah after being squashed between two cars in August this year.

Upon arrival his prognosis was grim with a minimal life expectancy but Trent has refused to give in and has amazed the hospital’s medical staff with his steady recovery.

After two weeks in intensive care he moved to a surgical ward and now is in the hospital’s acute rehabilitation unit receiving daily physiotherapy, speech therapy and occupational therapy sessions.

Trent had recently moved to Moranbah to be with his father Ray and had just begun a new job as a mechanic’s offsider when he was involved in the accident the following day.

SEPTEMBER

MOST young children would find any excuse to stay home from school but for nine-year-old Poppy Whiting, going to school is all she’s ever wanted.

Poppy has suffered debilitating side effects and long stints in hospital since the age of five after being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.

The hereditary auto-immune disease is incurable and can be fatal if untreated as damaged pancreas cells produce little or no insulin, which is vital for converting glucose to energy.

Poppy’s mum Hollea Whiting said it had been a constant juggle to manage her daughter’s health.

“High sugar levels does encourage infections and makes her susceptible to other coughs and colds and often means she becomes sicker than kids normally would, even down to just a vomiting bug means we end up in hospital,” she said.

OCTOBER

AT 24 weeks gestation, Shahn Trevarthen found out her baby would need open heart surgery.

The Townsville mum said she spent the rest of her pregnancy fearing the unknown.

“It was heartbreaking because we just didn’t know what to expect, I was definitely in protective mother mode and the uncertainty messed with our heads a bit,” Mrs Trevarthen said.

With her husband Rhett by her side, Shahn was required to give birth in Brisbane to have specialists on hand for the impending surgery. William Wayne Trevarthen was born on October 10 with a form of congenital heart disease known as pulmonary atresia with ventricular septal defect.

“We were told I probably wouldn’t be able to hold him but he was doing pretty well so I got a cuddle and it was the best moment,” Mrs Trevarthen said. “Then he was taken to the NICU.”

NOVEMBER

CAMPING outdoors and getting scratches and cuts is almost a rite of passage for children worldwide.

Yet for nine-year-old Jasmine-Rose Kinsey, a small cut turned into something much bigger when she found herself requiring brain surgery to remove fluid.

Jasmine-Rose’s mother Elle-Maree Edmond said her daughter cut her hand while camping with her dad but hadn’t sought medical attention.

Something that’s a normal routine for many but one that Elle-Maree said parents need to watch more closely to avoid the same nightmare.

“Jasmine-Rose had headaches and stomach pains after she got back and so we went to GPs, as anyone would, but then one morning she woke up screaming with a swollen eye,” she said.

DECEMBER

WHEN Tavita Esekia’s mum noticed a growing lump on his stomach in November last year, the baby boy was raced from Mareeba to Cairns and then flown to Townsville in just three days.

Doctors began draining the large cyst-like mass while waiting for test results and advice from specialists in Brisbane.

Tavita’s mum Tennille Palmer said it was scary watching her bright and bubbly five- month-old deteriorate so quickly.

“We noticed he started acted differently and one of his eyes was droopy, he was lethargic and not eating and he’s the happiest baby but it was hard to get him to smile,” she said. Ms Palmer said liver surgeons in Brisbane told the family to travel south and prepare for anything.

Leaving their other three children with family in Mareeba, Ms Palmer and her partner Herman Esekia travelled to Brisbane still unclear of the cause of Tavita’s illness.