Gen Rogers: Roma mum’s selfless crusade after newborn baby’s terrifying health battle

In her precious daughter’s first weeks, Roma mum Gen Rogers was faced with every parent’s worst nightmare and the possibility of losing her daughter. Now, she is the hero fighting to help other families faced with the same agony.

While she should have been enjoying the precious weeks of being a new first-time mum, Gen Rogers was agonisingly waiting to see if her little girl would survive a deadly battle.

Little Hollie became seriously ill at just seven weeks old, sparking a terrifying ordeal of rushing from hospital to hospital as doctor’s fought to save her life.

Hollie was born at 36 weeks at a healthy weight and seemed to be doing well, but just weeks later see contracted RSV. Although a common respiratory virus, RSV can be serious and life-threatening for babies.

Ms Rogers took her unwell baby to the Roma Hospital and said she was told that since Hollie’s condition wasn’t getting worse, she should take her home and monitor her.

That afternoon Hollie’s breathing became more intense, so the worried mum took her back to the hospital where her condition deteriorated.

Roma mum Gen Rogers has won her regions RFDS Hero Award 2022 (Photo: Royal Flying Doctor Service)

Two days later, the staff at the Roma hospital consulted with the Royal Flying Doctor Service retrieval team, who “took one look at Hollie and decided she needed to be taken to Brisbane for urgent care.”

“She kept further deteriorating while we were waiting for the Royal Flying Doctors, and it was just such a sickening time waiting for the nurses to update us on how long they were going to be,” Ms Rogers said.

“We got onto the plane, and it was the longest plane ride of my life to Brisbane, we didn’t know if she was going to die on the plane, it was absolutely terrifying.”

Little Hollie after being rushed to Queensland Children's Hospital (Photo: Gen Rogers)

Hollie was rushed to Queensland Children’s Hospital where doctors saved her life.

“This poor little baby went through so much with cannulas, tubes, lumbar punctures and being put into a coma, then we were moved into a ward for another few days just to recover,” she said.

Hollie fortunately made a full recovery and is now a happy little toddler, with her story helping raise money to allow services to continue to help regional and rural residents in their darkest hours.

The brave youngster’s story was used in a fundraising campaign, which raised well over $750,000 for the RFDS.

The funds will go toward saving lives and giving crucial support for those who do not have reliable access to medical services.

Hollie has recovered and is happy according to mum Gen Rogers (Photo: Gen Rogers)

The doting mum has also been honoured with RFDS Local Hero Award for being a devoted advocate and fundraiser for the service.

“Getting the story out about them outweighs winning the award because it’s creating so much more awareness,” she said.

“Those images and stories might be a bit harrowing, but people need to see these things to understand and donate, that’s really important.

The Roma cafe owner said even before her family was touched by the RFDS, she was a huge supporter of the vital organisation.

“We’ve always had our collection tin in the shop, because I’ve always understood how important the Royal Flying Doctors are,” she said.

“But until you go through something like that, where you’ve needed their service, you definitely find a new appreciation for the organisation.”

She hopes her tragic story will inspire others to support the service which is crucial in providing urgent medical care for those who live in rural areas.

Originally published as Gen Rogers: Roma mum’s selfless crusade after newborn baby’s terrifying health battle