Top End couple on track to raise $100k for premature babies

A baby boy born 16 weeks premature survived numerous lung collapses, a herniated bowel, resuscitations and seven blood transfusions. Now his parents are running for his cause.

Darren and Amanda Minchin with their first child Sully outside the Royal Darwin Hospital. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

The happiest time of Darren and Amanda Minchin’s lives quickly turned into a never-ending nightmare as they watched their little boy fight for his life.

The couple in their late 30s had been trying for a child for more than eight years and had done everything in their power to make that possible.

Miraculously, Ms Minchin fell pregnant earlier this year, but it took a turn for the worse when their baby decided he wasn’t going to wait around for 36 weeks.

“The 21-week scan found out that Amanda had a shortened cervix, so we opted for a cervical cerclage to help keep her from going into labour,” Mr Minchin said.

The parents were committed to hanging on until it was safe for Sully to be born after hearing the risks of their son being born before the 24-week threshold.

First time father Darren Minchin holding his newborn son Sully. Picture: Supplied.

Amanda Minchin feeding her baby boy Sully. Picture: Supplied.

“Doctors told us about the risks and viability of having a pre-24 week old baby,” Mr Minchin said.

“Amanda and I were both quite distressed and didn’t want to hear nor read the paperwork we were given.

“We knew that we had to make it to 24 weeks for RDH to take him or we would have had to go down south.”

Ms Minchin suffered a coughing fit that ruptured her waters while in surgery and led to doctors placing her on bed rest.

She stayed for two and a half weeks, then she suffered more complications and had to be rushed to hospital a few days before she gave birth.

A never ending sequence of escalating nature, their son decided to do a backflip, resulting in an emergency caesarean.

Sully was born 24 weeks premature, leading to numerous complications that kept him in the hospital for over 100 days. Picture: Supplied.

“An army of incredible nurses and doctors in the NICU got him out, resuscitated him and worked on him to keep him alive,” Mr Minchin said.

“Then they put him in a plastic bag inside an incubator to keep everything moist, and also intubated him.”

A couple of weeks passed but as a result of the CPAP machine pumping oxygen into Sully’s body he developed a CPAP belly which in turn saw him develop a hernia.

The hernia constricted Sully’s bowel forcing his stats to drop quickly and the need for reintubation with his parents worried they would end up on a plane to Adelaide.

It took a fair bit of persuading for the couple to feel comfortable enough to let the doctors work on Sully’s hernia.

An X-ray of Sully's lungs following one of their collapses. Picture: Supplied.

The surgery was a success, however Sully fell ill, with doctors telling the parents to get relatives to the hospital to pay a visit.

“Sully continued to get worse the following days and became very sick,” Mr Minchin said.

”My nephews came to visit and I told them to go up to Sully and tell him all the things they wanted to teach him when he gets out of here.

“The moment they spoke to him his saturations and other vitals all rocketed up, and the doctors literally said, ‘I don’t know what’s happening right now but don’t let those people leave’.

“He was up and down then his left lung exploded which led to a pneumothorax.

“His lungs collapsed another nine times and throughout the whole time he was there he was re-incubated around five times.”

Sully became healthy enough for his parents to take him home, where he has been making huge strides ever since.

Darren and Amanda Minchin pictured with their son Sully during a run for Steps for Sully. Picture: Supplied.

Both parents said they were eternally indebted to the doctors and nurses who saved their son and wanted to give back to the hospital through a fundraiser.

“We wanted to do something to give back to all of the amazing people that helped us through this time,” Mr Minchin said.

“We decided to name a team “Steps for Sully” under the Running for Premature Babies foundation.

“And we decided it’d be a good idea to run a kilometre for every day he was in hospital.

“We set out with an initial goal of $3k but we smashed it. Then we said $30k, and now we’re currently sitting at just over $75k.

“We now are hoping to reach $100k as that will be more than enough to provide some quality neonatal equipment to the hospital.”

You can donate to the Minchin’s Steps for Sully fundraiser by heading to this website: https://bit.ly/4frfjMI