"Trust your mum gut' HEROES WHO SAVED MARLEY

When their healthy baby became gravely ill, the helpless parents watched on as the experts flew into action

- Kasia Jillings

Last year, the Starship National Air Ambulance flew 176 times and more than 140,000 kilometres transporting sick children around the country to desperately needed medical care.

One of those was then-newborn Christchurch baby Marley Gentleman, who unbeknownst to anyone had a small but deadly kidney defect which almost claimed his life.

Devoted parents Katie and Ryan recall the first sign something wasn’t right with their 10-day-old son, when a normally cruisy Marley was miserable and wouldn’t settle.

A phone call with their midwife and some sage advice to “trust your mum gut” led Katie to take him to an afterhours medical centre, where the terrifying journey began.

“He was blue around his lips and mottled,” recalls Katie, 24. “I unzipped his onesie to show the nurse his mottled skin, and she ran off to get help. Straightaway, we were in the resuscitation room and then in an ambulance.”

At the time, truck driver Ryan was at work, but upon hearing Katie and Marley were en route to hospital, he immediately pulled over, parked the truck and jumped in an Uber to meet them.  

“Katie was texting me that he might have sepsis,” he says. “I didn’t know what that was, so I googled it and read that it can be a full-body infection and fatal.”

Now terrified for Marley, Ryan arrived at the hospital to find a distraught Katie as the doctors rushed to discover what was wrong with their much-longed-for baby.