A seriously ill newborn baby has been rushed to a Brisbane hospital after a ‘nerve-racking’ medical evacuation from Bali.
Seven-week-old Lucky Ahimsa was met in Bali by a team of Australian paediatricians on Monday before being boarded onto a flight to Brisbane in the afternoon.
The flight landed just before 10pm on Monday night with Baby Lucky transported immediately to an ambulance and rushed to hospital.
Amidst the chaos, photographs taken by the NCA NewsWire show the baby’s mother, Honey Ahimsa embracing one of the paramedics who helped save her daughter.
Ms Ahimsa and husband Pan spoke with Sunrise from out the front of the hospital where medical staff are working fast to find out what made Lucky so ill.
“She did so well and I was so proud of her and it really wasn‘t as scary as I thought it was going to be on the flight,” Ms Ahimsa said.
“She is a strong little girl.”
The parents eyes welled with tears as they thanked the public for the almost $200,000 they raised to help fund the life-saving journey.
Ms Ahimsa shared an update to Instagram in the early hours of Tuesday morning, revealing their “strong girl did very well on the plane”.
“It was a long and nerve racking journey though we were made to feel very safe by being in such capable hands,” she wrote.
“There were no complications.”
She said one of Australia’s top paediatric doctors and a specialist intensive care paediatric nurse were on board the flight.
Queensland-based Medical Rescue confirmed over the weekend it would help the desperate family with the time-sensitive operation.
Ms Ahimsa made a frantic plea for help last week after realising the Bali hospital they were in did not have the medical equipment or specialist care she would need to survive.
“This is going to be a big journey for Lucky,” Ms Ahimsa wrote on social media in an Instagram story.
“Nerves are high but my baby girl is a fighter, refusing to give up.
“Lucky has been given the all clear to fly and today we will make our way to Australia.”
Lucky has been on a ventilator since she arrived at the Siloam Hospital in Denpasar on Wednesday last week.
Doctors told the mum and her fiance Pan that their baby girl might not make it and had a 50 per cent chance of survival at best.
A GoFundMe created on behalf of the family has raised more than $190,000 to cover the cost of the medical evacuation flight and the newborn’s medical bills that cost the family up to $8000 a day.
“Waiting for the clear for her to fly as she is in such an unstable state at this point,” family friend Natalie Saper wrote on the fundraising page last week.
The newborn has a severe bacterial infection that took a “serious toll on her lungs”, making it difficult for her to breathe.
“Lucky has been given a 50/50 chance of survival and getting her on an air ambulance flight to Australia is her best chance! Please help save this beautiful baby girls life!,” Ms Saper said.
Medical Rescue director of operations John Turley said there was a “long way to go” for Baby Lucky and the family was still very concerned about her condition.
“It’s obviously been a very stressful time for them as we can all imagine,” he told Sunrise.
The specialist paediatric team arrived in Bali on Monday morning and is assisting the Ahimsa family from the hospital.
“Once the hospital gives clearance for baby Lucky to come, we will bring her back hopefully later today,” Mr Turley said.
The Ahimsa family secured the medical evacuation flight last week but were unable to board the flight while the newborn was in an unstable condition.
“Towards the end of last week we weren’t able to make this mission due to her status but she is stabilised enough at the moment,” Mr Turley said.
“There is a small window that we have decided to seize the initiative.”
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