A baby boy who was frozen to prevent brain damage is set to celebrate his second birthday as a healthy, happy toddler.
Freddy Cooke, from the United Kingdom, was put into an induced state of hypothermia by doctors after not breathing for 20 minutes after being born. His parents had to wait an agonising 72 hours before they finally got to hold him on Christmas Eve last year.
Now this little “Christmas miracle” has been given a clean bill of health, his family have spoken about the revolutionary treatment for the first time.
Freddy was five days overdue when mum Nicky went into labour. “It was early afternoon and I had felt a little different all day. I had a feeling it was going to start,” she told the Mirror. “The midwife on the phone told me to get Daniel home from work and to take a nice hot bath.”
A midwife arrived at Nicky’s home soon after, but things suddenly took a turn for the worst.
Freddy’s shoulder was stuck under his mother’s pelvic bone which had caused the umbilical cord to snap, cutting of his oxygen supply. The midwife managed to remove him but he was lifeless and not breathing. After being rushed to hospital the distraught parents were told to expect their baby to be brain damaged, if he survived at all.
In an effort to minimise the impact of any brain damage, doctors suggested a new technique which would cool his brain for 72 hours to allow him to recover and limit further brain damage.
Nicky and her husband Daniel watched Freddy fighting for life in an incubator. “I touched his little hand. It was so cold,” she told the Mirror. “He shivered and made little whimpers that broke my heart into a million pieces every time I heard them.”
Three days later they were finally allowed to hold their son. Freddy has fully recovered and is showing no signs of brain damage.
The treatment is now being used more widely and it is hoped less children will suffer brain damage after traumatic births thanks to the procedure.
Image credit: YouTube
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