A newborn baby’s life was saved after his temperature was brought down to four degrees thanks to a special blanket.

Simon Meanwell was brought back to life by medical staff after being placed on pioneering cool blanket.

The tot, who is now aged six-months, stopped breathing 90 minutes after being born, but was saved by the medical equivalent of being refrigerated.

As a way of showing their gratitude his parents, James and Helen, are raising money for the facilities and teams that saved their little boy.

It initially took three attempts at resuscitation for Simon’s tiny lungs to work on their own again.

But it was a little known therapy designed to cool the body temperature of babies down which stopped him having seizures, saved his life, and boosted his chances of growing up without disabilities.

Simon was born at Peterborough Hospital and everything initially seemed to go smoothly.

"But soon Mr and Mrs Meanwell’s newborn son stopped breathing and medics rushed to give him CPR.

Mr Meanwell, 41 and from Colsterworth, Lincolnshire, said: "He was absolutely fine when he was born but then he stopped breathing.

"It took six minutes to get his heart started."

Simon’s condition was so serious he needed to be transferred to the nearest specialist centre, the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) in Norwich.

Mr Meanwell, who works at a company which imports quad bikes, said: "The vehicle is basically a NICU in the back of an ambulance.

"As soon as they had resuscitated him they started what they call a cooling process, which lasts for 72 hours."

The treatment, known as cooling therapy, is relatively new and is used on babies who are seriously deprived of oxygen during or shortly after birth to help prevent brain injury.

It involves putting the baby on a waterproof blanket which contains cool circulating water to lower the body temperature to 33C for 72 hours, before allowing it to return to normal.

Until 2014 there was no approved treatment to help reduce the aftershocks of low oxygen at birth but researchers think the therapy works by slowing the production of harmful substances in the brain and the rate of brain cell death.

The Meanwells stayed at the N&N for two weeks, where they described the care and support as "outstanding", before being allowed back to Peterborough.

In total Simon was in hospital for a month. Mr Meanwell said: "The first couple of days we were just totally in shock. It was very upsetting."

It is not known how effective the treatment is long term, but Mr Meanwell said Simon seemed healthy.

He said: ""He has a ridiculous number of medical appointments, it works out as around one every three days including nurses coming to see him at home and things.

"He’s doing very well though but we don’t know what will happen, it all depends how he develops."

Mr Meanwell said: "We are in no doubt that had a special paediatric ambulance not been available as promptly as it was Simon’s future would be looking very different to what it does now."

Source: Read Full Article