Most mums know how daunting it is to travel with young kids on a plane, so you can imagine how Perth mother-of-two felt when her one-year-old baby experienced a febrile convulsion on board a Qantas flight from Sydney to Perth.
Elise Doohan had boarded the flight with her two sons, one-year-old Sebastian and three-year-old Chance. During the flight her one-year-old fell ill.
Elise shared a heartfelt Facebook post to Qantas, how her youngest son ‘‘went floppy, he vomited and his eyes rolled into the back of his head. He wasn’t responding and had turned completely white!”
“I was panicking. I stood up to try get the attention of an air hostess, and I already had one running towards me. She grabbed my baby without hesitation, who was covered in vomit, and ran him towards the back of the plane while I followed. I was in tears and really distressed, as my son still wasn’t responding.
“Your lovely air hostess hugged me, assured me they had a team of mothers as staff and they were going to take care of us.”
Ms Doohan was amazed at how quickly the flight attendants reacted to her son. One of the flight attendants grabbed Sebastian to put him onto oxygen, while another called for medical professionals on the flight to assist. Thankfully a doctor and paramedic were on board the flight to help.
“These two men gave up the comfort of their own seats and sat with us for practically the entire flight. When they could have been relaxing, watching a movie — they were asking around for medical supplies, constantly checking my son’s vitals and liaising with the Qantas staff on caring for my son.
“Another staff member went and sat with my three-year-old, and then moved him closer to us. Your beautiful staff kept him so calm and entertained. There were air hostesses going up and down the aisles with stickers all over them, they were constantly fetching snacks, helping him to put movies on, took him to the toilet and took him for walks up the plane.”
One of the flight attendants reassured Ms Doohan by grabbing her and saying, “We’re all mums and we’re going to take care of you.”
In her post, Ms Doohan said how she felt comforted from those words.
“I could tell that they were really emotionally invested. That they really cared and they weren’t just doing their job.”
One staff member sat with her for the remaining three hours of the flight, ensuring she and her boys had all that they needed.
Sebastian was taken to hospital after the plane landed. He has made a full recovery.
Ms Doohan is so thankful for the staff and medical help onboard the flight that were able to assist her and Sebastian.
“I cannot express how thankful I was to be on board that flight with such absolute angels. Your staff went completely above and beyond in every single aspect.
They completely took control of the situation and I felt so safe knowing they were doing everything they could to look after us.”
Qantas have been humbled by the post and have said they will commend the staff for what they did to assist Ms Doohan.
A Qantas spokeswoman commented on the Facebook post, “We’re very humbled to read this experience and are happy your son is in good health following this flight. We’d like to make sure that Maria, Monica, Libby and the rest of the crew are commended for their hard work and compassion.”
The post has received over 28k reactions and nearly 700 comments.
We’re glad to read Sebastian has made a full recovery and well done to the Qantas crew who assisted with the family.
It proves how very important it is for all Qantas and other airlines staff all have senior first aid certificates.