One Victoria Family is Extra Grateful This Holiday Season
One Victoria family will be extra grateful this Thanksgiving.
On Sept. 17, 16-day-old infant Skylar Saenz Jr. was dispatched to be transported from the Emergency Department at DeTar Hospital in Victoria to Driscoll Children's Hospital in Corpus.
Baby Skylar's health was in danger. According to a report made by KRIS 6 News of Corpus Christi, his mother, Breanna Burelson, explained that baby Skylar was born with a portion of his heart missing. This missing portion caused a heart arrhythmia and led to a severe form of PAC cardia, which is an abnormal heartbeat.
Due to the urgency of the situation, an airlift from Victoria to Corpus Christi was a priority; however, this was not a viable option because of unfavorable weather conditions. So, the family made the 107-mile transfer by ambulance.
The Corpus Christi Driscoll team reported that, on the way to Corpus Christi, emergency action needed to be "taken, when Skylar became pale, mottled and lethargic." Breanna recounts the scary moment, “thirty minutes into our two-hour drive, baby Jr. stopped breathing. Dana (Registered Respiratory Therapist) kept him alive until we got to Driscoll before he coded. I’ll never forget this woman, and baby Jr. will know about her for as long as he lives,” she said.
Once arriving at Driscoll, Skylar was taken to the PICU, where he was placed in the Cardiology Intensive Care Unit (CICU) wing to be placed on a heart and lung machine until medications worked to stop his heart arrhythmia.
Thanks to the hard work and dedication of the team at Driscoll, Skylar was released and doing well according to his mother, "The life of our child we owe completely to the Driscoll PICU team and EMTs. Their hard work and love for Jr. brought him back from certain death,” said Burleson.
Skylar was released on October 2nd and has been in the care of his loving family, who will be celebrating his precious life for years to come.