Tauranga newborn survives rare heart infection that caused him to turn blue

Nicole Buet didn’t have time to stop and think when her 18-day-old son started screaming and turning blue on the way to the supermarket.

All she could do was pull over on 15th Avenue, Tauranga, call for help and hold her newborn, Oliver, as he screamed.

Emergency services arrived minutes later, rushing Oliver down the road to Tauranga Hospital where he was later diagnosed with a rare heart infection.

Buet says doctors told them he was lucky to have survived; now, Oliver is a healthy and happy 5-month-old.

Oliver spent more than five weeks in hospital. He was sent to Auckland and admitted to Starship’s paediatric intensive care unit, transferred to the cardiac ward, and then back to Tauranga Hospital before being discharged.

“It was a long time to not know what was happening and I wouldn’t wish it on anybody,” Buet said.

Viral myocarditis was the rare condition that caused the middle of Oliver’s heart to become inflamed, resulting in a collapse in the left ventricle of his heart.

Buet said the first moments in the hospital were a “surreal” and “scary” blur surrounded by doctors doing whatever they could to keep Oliver alive.

“It didn’t feel real – the doctors were telling us what was happening but it still felt like you’re going to go home tomorrow.”

The rarity of his condition meant the newborn needed to receive specialised attention from a cardiologist.

Nine hours after first going to Tauranga Hospital, Oliver was on board the Starship National Air Ambulance, a service that transports critically sick and injured children across the country.

Buet was “incredibly grateful” for the staff involved in the flight, who made the trip the best it could have been under the circumstances.

“Having a child need the Starship team is an experience I hope nobody has to go through but knowing the air ambulance is available is such a relief.”

During their time in Auckland, Oliver’s parents stayed in the Ronald McDonald House and took turns driving back to Tauranga every two days to stay with their 2-year-old daughter Zoe and drop her at daycare.

Being postpartum meant Buet was put under extra stress but she said the hardest part was having to decide which child to see.

Buet shared her story as Starship next week launches its annual fundraising appeal for its plane, the only flying paediatric intensive care unit in the country.

A Starship statement said each flight could be in the air with a full paediatric intensive care team within 60 minutes of receiving a call from a regional hospital, and the air ambulance was a vital lifeline for children across the country.

The plane was a King Air 350 turbo prop and flew every 45 hours on average.

The Starship Foundation contributed $1.5 million to it every year, and it also had support from The Lindsay Foundation, which had donated $500,000 since 2019.

Te Whatu Ora Health NZ’s Dr John Beca, director of Starship intensive care and surgery, said Starship was the national children’s hospital with the only specialist paediatric intensive care unit.

“Injuries and illnesses affect children right across the country and any child needing more than short-term intensive care is brought to Starship.

“Thanks to the Starship National Air Ambulance service, every child can receive the vital care and treatment they need, irrespective of where they live.”

People can make donations online.

Harriet Laughton is a multimedia journalist based in the Bay of Plenty.