Starship Foundation: Khempher’s story

Khempher, from Methven, was 18 months old when he woke up in the middle of the night with a cough. Although this was not alarming at first, after a few days Kempher’s Mum noticed his breathing had deteriorated so she called her GP, who suggested she take him to the emergency department at Christchurch Hospital.

Khempher was given adrenaline nebulizers which helped initially but his breathing soon when downhill again, so he was moved to the high dependency unit where he was diagnosed with croup.

This was traumatic for his Mum, who hours earlier had thought he just had a bad cold.

It was an awful night as Khempher continued to struggle to breathe, and his small body was getting exhausted with the effort. The medication was no longer working so he was rushed to surgery to have a breathing tube inserted. By this stage, his airways had swelled so much a tiny tube designed for a newborn baby had to be used.

The Starship Air Ambulance was dispatched with a team from Starship’s Paediatric Intensive Care Unit to transfer Khempher to Starship so he could get the specialist care he needed.

Khempher spent two weeks in Starship Intensive Care and had many ups and downs until he was well enough to be transferred to a ward where he stayed for 10 days. Thanks to the Starship Air Ambulance, he is now a fully recovered inquisitive, lively, cheeky little boy who is always on the move and never sits still.