Critically Ill Babies Arrive at Cook Children's in Wake of Hurricane Harvey

We were on hand as our Teddy Bear Transport Team brought critically ill babies from Driscoll Children's Hospital in Corpus Christi, Texas, to our Cook Children's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Click here to see our Transport team in action. 

A Call To Faith: Surviving Hurricane Harvey

Lily Faith was born at 23 weeks, 5 days and weighed 1 pound, 5 ounces. With Hurricane Harvey on its way, Lily was one of the fragile babies transferred to Cook Children's. We talked to Lily Faith's mom and learned this family's amazing story. Click to read. 

'I Don't Think I've Ever Been Tested More as a Nurse'

While our Teddy Bear Transport Team took babies away from the hurricane and to safety, we found stories of brave Cook Children's employees who were making their way into the storm to help. Candace Wilson saw plenty of tough situations as a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit nurse, but nothing compared to the havoc she witnessed while trying to evacuate a nursing home from the rising flood waters of Hurricane Harvey. Click to read Candace's story.

The Rescuers: Cook Children's Nurse, Dispatcher Help Hurricane Victims

We will never forget meeting Collin Main and Trent Palmer. We learned about the two Cook Children's employees after seeing a picture of Collin on a helicopter, taken by CBS National News. With their medical training and their boat, they knew they had the skills to help. Read their remarkable story of rescue by clicking here.

Along with our coverage on Checkupnewsroom.com, media from across the country covered our stories. Click the links below to revisit them:

•  Huge hurricane rips into Lone Star State: Hospitals evacuate most at-risk (Boston Herald)
• A Nurse on Rescuing Critically Ill Babies From Hurricane Harvey (New York Magazine)
• 'It's a Miracle': Some of Harvey's First Evacuees Were Newborns, Flown To Fort Worth (KERA)

So Collin never expected a national correspondent from CBS News to be on a helicopter with him during the rescue of a 93-year-old woman from the perils of Hurricane Harvey in Port Arthur, Texas.

Omar Villafranca was on that helicopter and captured the rescue, naming Main in one of his tweets and showing him in his evening news report on the dangerous flooding.

“My cousin texted me and said, “I just watched the CBS Evening News and you were on it,” Main said while laughing. “I saw him (Villafranca), but I didn’t realize he was a reporter at first until we started talking. I never thought much about it.”

Main, who is a registered nurse in the Emergency Department at Cook Children’s, never thought much about helping people either after he saw the devastation of the hurricane.

“I feel like we did a lot of good, but I don’t necessarily feel like we did anything special,” Main said. “We were just doing what we were called to do. You don’t go into the medical field without having the call to help people.”

That call tugged at Main as he listened to Zello, a Walkie Talkie App, where he could hear the need for medical help and people with boats.

“I listened all day and it was just pulling at my heart,” he said. “They were pulling out babies and old people. I had to do something.”

Main called his fishing buddy Trent Palmer, who is a dispatcher at Cook Children’s Teddy Bear Transport and a paramedic. Main asked Palmer if they could take his aluminum flat water boat and head to Houston to help with the hurricane.

At first Palmer said no. After all, it was his expensive fishing boat that they would take to South Texas. But like Main, that calling to help tugged at him too.

"I said, 'Man, I don't want to run over a fire hydrant and sink. We would have to be the first ones rescued,'" Palmer said. "Collin told me to download this walkie-talkie rescue channel. I kept hearing call after call. People stranded in their attics or up on a roof. It just didn't sit well with me. I called Collin back and said, "The boat is hooked up to the truck, get here as soon as you can. Let’s go.”

They took another friend who is a physical therapist and headed toward Houston at 10:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 29.

They listened to the app the whole trip. After a couple of hours, they realized that Houston was covered and it was Port Arthur that needed help the most. The three friends called until they reached a dispatcher in Port Arthur who gave them directions to a local mall, a place high enough that they could dock their boat and begin their rescue mission.

When they reached Port Arthur at around 5 a.m. Wednesday, they were shocked at what they saw, or to be more accurate – what they didn’t see.

Other than the Coast Guard, they were the first boat on the scene. They talked to a dispatcher to prioritize medical calls and headed out on the water. Within 5 minutes, they brought 15 people on their boat to safety.

For the next 12 hours, the three men lived the adventure of a lifetime:

They rescued a woman that Main estimated to be in her 80s. She was using a walker to help her stand in water up to her knees. She had been standing for 12 hours. When she saw Main, she sobbed from relief.

One family proved to be especially meaningful to Main. He volunteers at Camp Sanguinity, a camp for patients with cancer and blood disorders. The dispatcher said a child in the family had cancer and had a port. When Main and his physical therapist friend reached the house, they found six kids and a couple of adults. Main put one child on his back and carried the young child with cancer. Main wrapped his poncho on the child to protect the port.

At times, Main walked in waist-deep water to go to a house, while Palmer drove people to land in his boat. In most of the houses, the electricity was still on and power lines were on the ground. Main even commandeered a Jon Boat he saw floating by to carry someone to safety.

But for all the people helped, none were more dramatic than the one captured by CBS Evening News.

The trio received a call about a 93-year old woman who had suffered a seizure and was experiencing chest pains. Palmer drove the boat as far as he could, but the water became too shallow and Main jumped out to walk.

He saw a young boy riding by on a Jet Ski. Main asked him for help. He hopped on the back of the Jet Ski and used his phone for directions. When Main arrived, he found the woman with water up to the mattress on her bed. She couldn’t walk or stand and was not physically able to ride back on the Jet Ski. She was in immediate need of help and beyond what Main could offer her with limited supplies.

Main walked out and saw Navy rescue helicopters hovering above like bees. He took off his white hat and waved it frantically to get the crew’s attention.

The lady was carried out, placed on a basket and lifted up to the helicopter. They asked Main what he did for a living and since he was a nurse, they brought him along for medical support.

But the adventure didn’t stop there. Once the woman was safe, Main still had to get back to his friends who were about six miles away.

He walked out of the airport where the helicopter landed and hitchhiked to the highway. From there he flagged down a dump truck that was headed to the mall.

“It was the wildest day of my life,” Main said.

From sunrise to about 8 p.m. that evening, the three men from North Texas made multiple trips and were involved in rescuing more than 100 people. By the end of the day, dozens of boats had arrived. The Army and Coast Guard took over by the evening and it was time to go home.

"It was a real humbling experience," Palmer said. "Everybody was so grateful. I saw stuff I never wanted to see and I saw stuff that was really amazing. We did have some pretty scary moments, but it was nothing compared to what was going on around us. We weren't worried about ourselves."

They drove back and went nearly 48 hours without sleep. Palmer returned to work, with someone else who needed to be rescued -- Harvey, a dog they saw that was wandering around without an owner.

"He's as skinny as could be," Palmer said. "But we brought him home. He's sitting right next to me. I have him now."

Thursday night and Main was up after only 5 hours of sleep to take care of the animals that live on the farm.

“It was such a terrible situation. I’ve never seen anything like it and hope I never do again,” Main said. “The look of loss and despair on people’s faces… it will stay with me forever. People were crying. Some did not want to leave their house. Everything was a total loss. We tried to be encouraging. We told them they were safe. You can replace this stuff. But, it was hard on people. They would be in waist-deep water and they didn’t want to leave.”

And yet through it all, the three friends found moments of joy.

“We were able to laugh. We had a boat full of people and we were going by a Dairy Queen,” Main said. “It looked open except for all the water around it. The lights were on and the Drive Through sign was lit up. I said, “Palmer, pull over and get us all some Blizzards. We all started laughing. All of these people who had gone through so much started laughing. This was without question, one of the craziest things I’ve ever been through in my life. But I never felt like I was in danger. I’m sure I was. I’m sure we all were. But my granddad, he was always my hero. He taught me to help people. We all feel fortunate that we were able to help. I know this. I would do it all again and wouldn’t think twice about it.”

His grandfather would be proud.

*Top photo, credited to Omar Villafranca/CBS News

**All other photos, video credited to Trent Palmer

They feared the worst when they saw Driscoll Children’s Hospital in Corpus Christi, Texas, calling on Thursday, Aug. 24. Miguel and Leanna were halfway between the one-hour drive from their home in Alice, Texas, to Driscoll Children’s to check on their daughter, Lily Faith, when they heard the call.

Leanna was told the medical team at Driscoll felt it best to transport their daughter to Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth, to get Lily Faith away from the wake of Hurricane Harvey.

Lily Faith was born at 23 weeks, 5 days on March 12, 2017. She weighed 1 pound, 5 ounces at birth. Because of her fragile condition and multiple health issues, she could not afford any loss of electricity at the hospital.

“When they said they were evacuating certain babies, I immediately started crying,” Vidal said. “She’s our baby girl and it’s difficult already being a NICU parent, walking out of the NICU every single day without your child in fear they’ll call you at any time to tell you something happened with her getting sick or not doing well. And now they were about to send her nearly eight hours away. It felt like someone taking the other half of your heart from you.”

Because of the staff and equipment required to take care of the babies transported back to Fort Worth, most parents weren’t allowed to travel with their children. Even if there was a chance to fly with her daughter, Vidal arrived at Driscoll without any money or belongings.

“So we stayed behind,” Vidal said. “I looked at my baby girl and all I could see was love and that fighting spirit in her. I just told myself, ‘She’s a little warrior princess already and now she’s an adventurer. She’s going to be OK.’ We kissed her forehead and I placed my daughter’s life in the hands of these miracle workers. My little star lit up the sky that night and arrived safely thanks to these amazing hospitals and their teams. We are beyond thankful our baby was taken to Cook Children’s. It’s such an amazing hospital with a team of such kind and beautiful people.”

Lily Faith was born nearly four months premature. Leanna’s water broke on Valentine’s Day at 20 weeks most likely due to infection. Leanna held on for nearly three weeks with a broken water bag, not knowing when or what day her daughter would be born.

“Every day I was losing amniotic fluid and every day doctors would tell me there was no hope, that my baby would die,” Vidal said.

When Lily Faith was born, parents heard their daughter cry. But that first sign of hope, soon gave way to the reality of what Lily would face in the upcoming months.

Lily has gone through so much since her birth:

• Surgery to close an extra passageway in the heart at just 1 week old
• Numerous blood transfusions
• A meningitis scare that required a spinal tap
• Eye disease caused by abnormal vessel growth
• Serratia infections
• Chronic lung disease
• Pulmonary hypertension

On July 13 (Leanna’s birthday), Lily became sick with a urinary tract infection and a lung infection that caused her lungs to collapse. She struggled to breathe on her own and required help multiple times. She pulled through and just recently received a tracheotomy to help her breathe and a tube to be placed in her stomach for feeding.

Lily Faith has proven tough as nails time and time again. Her parents credit the medical team at Driscoll for their daughter’s life. Parents were on their way to Driscoll to hear what was next for their daughter when the hurricane warnings began.

“We never gave up because our hearts told us otherwise ... and I'm so glad we didn't because now we have a little girl with the most beautiful eyes. She's just beautiful and perfect in every way,” Vidal said.

Since arriving at Cook Children’s, the parents no longer look at their phone as something to fear, but as the lifeline of their baby. Vidal calls to check on Lily and get updates over the phone on her daughter’s progress.

"Everyone at Cook Children's has been so great," Vidal said. "We have family in Fort Worth and they are sending us updates from the NICU and pictures of Lily. I've never seen her smile as much as she has since she's been at Cook Children's."

Vidal said the weather “did get ugly” around the surrounding areas. Signs were knocked down, buildings and gas stations destroyed, leaving devasation behind. But now, Vidal has a new sense of hope.

“It’s something you never expect to happen, but you just never know what storms life will throw your way next. This entire journey changes your perspective,” Vidal said.

Vidal let many things go for her daughter. Before her water broke, she had just been hired and chosen as a graduate teaching assistant at Texas A&M University Kingsville, accepted into the MA program and a teaching program as well.

And even with everything that’s happened, Vidal says she wouldn’t change a thing.

“I just wanted our daughter safe and to live. It was all that mattered. In the blink of an eye your life could change ... I found myself losing everything I had and now her life was hanging by a thread the moment my water broke. I did everything I could to try to keep her in as long as God allowed me to and by a miracle I now have my daughter alive,” Vidal said. “I hope her story can inspire other families who have babies in the NICU and are going through a tough ordeal. Lily is proof that miracles exist.”

Cook Children’s Case Management Team is working with these families to meet their emergent needs, such as food, lodging and transportation. If you would like to help support these families and other families we serve, you can make a monetary donation by clicking here where you can make a gift and designate your support for our Emergency Assistance Fund, which will help these families. You can support our patients by texting an amount to 682-307-4500.

“I am always amazed, but never surprised, at the generosity of our Cook Children’s family,” said Grant Harris, vice president of Development at Cook Children’s. “Right now, the best way you can help is through monetary donations, rather than making an in-kind donation. Our caregivers will know the best way to use those donations to help these children. We are honored that Driscoll Children’s entrusted us to care for their most fragile babies. People saw this and immediately welcomed these children to our community and wanted to find a way that they could help. We appreciate that people are always out there and willing to give.”

The catastrophic events of the Gulf Coast have left many families in need. Along with helping Cook Children’s, many of our partners could benefit from monetary donations and volunteers including:

• The American Red Cross – click here or text 90999 to donate $10. The organization is also asking for volunteers.
• Carter BloodCare
• South Texas Blood and Tissue Center
• United Way of Greater Houston
• The Salvation Army
• North Texas Food Bank (Disaster Relief Fund)

All 10 babies arrived from the NICU at Driscoll Children’s Hospital in Corpus Christi, Texas, through a transportation effort that involved four planes from three different hospitals – Cook Children’s Teddy Bear Transport, Driscoll Children’s and two aircraft from Children’s Health in Dallas.

The babies were transported back-and-forth throughout the night. It took about 18 hours from the time of the initial phone call from Driscoll to when the last babies arrived at Cook Children’s at 6:30 a.m. Friday.

Once the parents arrive they will be in a private room with their baby. Level IV is the highest ranking a NICU can receive, meeting stringent requirements, especially in the areas of advanced medicine and quality of care.

“We are so honored and privileged that Driscoll Children’s trusted us to care for their precious patients. This was an act of remarkable teamwork between Cook Children’s, Children’s Health and Driscoll Children’s Hospital, all in an effort to care for these vulnerable patients and get them out of harm’s way of the hurricane,” said Nancy Cychol, Chief of Hospital Services at Cook Children’s. “These are critically ill babies. The Transport teams continued the excellent care they were receiving in Corpus Christi and now are settled in our Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.”

Because of the complex nature of the patients and the equipment and staff needed in the planes, parents could not travel with their babies and had to arrange their own transportation.

“Because of the extraordinary nature of the hurricane and the transport teams working together, these babies arrived in a dramatic way to our NICU,” said Sheralyn Hartline, RN, director of the NICU at Cook Children’s. “But now that they are here, our NICU staff is very much in their comfort zone of taking care of these babies. This is normal for our team. Our physicians, nurses and everyone who works in the NICU are all prepared and trained for occasions exactly like this one. Every day, they are treating the sickest children with the most difficult and complex diagnoses.”

About Cook Children's NICU

Neonatology is an in-hospital subspecialty of pediatrics that focuses solely on the care and treatment of critically ill newborns and babies that are born prematurely. Our neonatologists and Level IV Newborn Intensive Care Unit (NICU) are ranked among the best in the nation for care that combines the most advanced treatments with heartfelt compassion. Click here to learn more.