PARENTS SHARE TEARS AND JOY FOR WORLD PREMATURITY DAY

Doctors at Mater Mothers’ Hospital in Brisbane saved the life of a premature baby girl after removing a 2kg tumour from the tiny newborn’s spine.
Her parents are sharing their story for World Prematurity Day (17 November) and to highlight the care they received at the hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
One in 10, or about 15 million babies globally, are born preterm each year, and World Prematurity Day aims to raise awareness of preterm birth and the problems facing preterm babies and their families.
North Lakes parents Rachel and Kieran Thomson’s “miracle baby” Saylor was born three months early at Mater Mothers’ Hospital with a tumour weighing double her 1025 grams birth weight.
Mater Mothers’ Hospital is Queensland’s centre for babies requiring complex cardiac and surgical care.
When her baby’s fast-growing tumour was first identified in a 20-week scan, Rachel was told her daughter only had a 25-40 per cent chance of survival.
But almost three months since her August birth, Saylor has made a fantastic recovery, weighs around 3kg and is growing stronger by the day.
A complex six-hour operation was performed moments after Saylor was born to remove the sacrococcygeal teratoma, a tumour that grows from a baby’s tailbone and occurs in one out of 40,000 live births.
Sacrococcygeal teratomas divert blood from the baby, raising their risk of heart failure.
Mater Maternal Fetal Medicine Unit Professor Sailesh Kumar said Saylor’s tumour was the largest removed from a baby of her size at the hospital.
Prof Kumar delivered Saylor with a team of 25 surgeons, neonatologists, anaesthetists, theatre staff, nurses and midwives.
“We don’t know why the tumour grows, but it arises from embryonic germ cells and is four times more likely to occur in female infants,” Prof Kumar said.
“Saylor’s tumour was extremely large and very complex. The tumour extended into her pelvis and abdomen.
“Many of these babies do not survive the pregnancy.”
Dr Peter Borzi, a neonatal and paediatric surgeon at Mater Mothers’ Hospital and Queensland Children’s Hospital, performed the painstaking operation to remove the tumour and said its size was extremely rare.
The surgery involved removing part of Saylor’s tailbone to prevent the tumour growing back.
Dr Borzi said Saylor required five blood transfusions during the surgery, but she had proven to be “strong and resilient”.
“She has made a fantastic recovery, with the help of the teams at Mater Mothers’ Hospital and Queensland Children’s Hospital,” he said.
The Thomsons were able to hold their “strong-willed little fighter” 10 days after birth.
“When the social worker and surgeons first gathered to tell us she had little chance of making it due to prematurity and the tumour, I cried hysterically,” Mrs Thomson said.
“But being able to hold Saylor in my arms and know she has come through the other side is something special.”
Mater Neonatologist Dr Richard Mausling said that without the expertise and skill of Mater’s nursing staff and allied health teams Saylor would not be alive.
“Being born prematurely, even at 28 weeks, carries its own potential risks,” Dr Mausling said.
“Without a doubt, this was the biggest teratoma I have seen removed from any newborn baby, regardless of gestation.”