MIRACLE BOY
A Cold Hat Saved David ' s Life
No kid has ever been more excited about throwing leaves than 4-year-old David Thomas . He cackles and does a little jig of pleasure , then looses another bunch in the air . They flutter to the ground , and David turns to a more pressing concern : pestering his parents for ice cream .
It ’ s typical 4-year-old . So typical , in fact , it would be impossible to guess that David ’ s father , Chris Thomas , once listened to Children ’ s Hospital Colorado neonatologist Theresa Grover , MD , discuss the ethics of removing his son from the machines that were keeping him alive .
“ When people see David and we start telling the story , they don ’ t believe it ,” says Aracely Thomas , David ’ s mom . in response to the original insult – which can lead to further injury .”
In the early 2000s , Children ’ s Colorado and other investigative sites around the country tested a simple hypothesis : If you can slow the brain ’ s metabolism by cooling it down , maybe you can prevent the reperfusion injury . The technology – essentially a cold hat – worked .
It worked so well , in fact , that Dr . Grover ’ s team immediately worked to implement the brain cooling not only at Children ’ s Colorado , but at hospitals throughout the Rocky Mountain region . The sooner cooling begins , the better the outcome . Working with pre-hospital care provider Flight for Life ,
" There are really few therapies that have had such a dramatic impact on long-term outcomes for our neonatal patients .”
THERESA GROVER , MD
Medical Director , Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
Aracely went into labor with David , the couple ’ s first , on an icy January night in Estes Park , Colorado . After an uneventful pregnancy , Aracely planned to birth at home – and aside from a slow labor , everything seemed fine . The midwife broke Aracely ’ s water to speed things up .
It was dark with meconium . The midwife immediately rushed the couple to Estes Park Medical Center , where David was born three hours later , purple and limp .
“ He didn ’ t cry ,” Aracely recalls . “ I saw nurses trying to suck this black stuff from his lungs , and I just knew something wasn ’ t right .”
“ We had no idea what was going on ,” Chris adds .
Meconium aspiration had left David unable to breathe , which quickly led to hypoxic brain damage .
“ When you have a brain injury , there are two main phases ,” Dr . Grover says . “ There ’ s the actual damage to the cells , but there ’ s also what ’ s called the reperfusion phase , where the brain releases toxins
Dr . Grover ’ s team talked doctors at Estes Park through protocols they ’ d developed specifically for that purpose , beginning immediately , and maintaining the temperature through his arrival at Children ’ s Colorado , via helicopter , two hours after his birth .
“ There are really few therapies that have had such a dramatic impact on long-term outcomes for our neonatal patients ,” Dr . Grover says .
David ’ s parents couldn ’ t have asked for a better outcome : some speech delays , some movement delays , a little occupational therapy . But mostly , he was fine .
Not every kid with brain damage as acute as David ’ s achieves his outcome – many don ’ t – but there ’ s no doubt it couldn ’ t have happened without the fast work of his caretakers in Estes Park and an assist from Dr . Grover ’ s team at Children ’ s Colorado .
“ After the whole thing shook out , we did a little bit of research on our own , and it was like , wow – this wasn ’ t supposed to happen ,” Chris says . “ David is our miracle boy .”
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NEONATOLOGY