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Morgan & Matthew's Story

When Morgan Yeatman and Matthew Howard arrived at Ronald McDonald House in Orange in late April and their six- day old baby Cooper was transferred to Orange Hospital from Westmead, the couple say it was their first time to relax in almost a week.

When Morgan Yeatman and Matthew Howard arrived at Ronald McDonald House in Orange in late April and their six- day old baby Cooper was transferred to Orange Hospital from Westmead, the couple say it was their first time to relax in almost a week.

“We felt it was the first time we were able to take a breath since Cooper was born,” said Morgan.The couple say the care and attention they received from staff and volunteers of RMH Orange meant they could fully focus on their baby boy until he was well enough to return home to Mudgee.“Nothing was too much trouble for us – they would have gone to the moon and back for us,” said Morgan.After a relatively normal pregnancy, it was during delivery at Mudgee hospital things went awry for the young family.

Shortly after Cooper’s delivery at 6pm in the evening, clinicians realised the newborn had ingested merconium into his lungs and had difficulty breathing. While medical staff were working on Cooper to help him breathe, one of the newborn’s lungs collapsed.

The hours and days that followed proved to be the most difficult time in the young couple’s life so far. “They worked on him for hours to keep him breathing,” Morgan said.

The next morning it was heartbreaking as the young couple said goodbye to their baby boy who was flown by emergency helicopter to Westmead Children’s Hospital.

“It was during Covid and I had to have a test before we could follow – we didn’t see him for 24 hours”, Morgan said.The next five days the couple says was a ‘blur’ as they were caught up in the atmosphere that is a busy metropolitan hospital and their baby boy was receiving specialist treatment.“So when we arrived and settled in at Orange we had so much provided for us,” said Morgan.

“We had meals provided for us, and there was even a bag of gifts for Cooper – we couldn’t have asked for more – in a way it felt like we were home,” Morgan said.