Western Isles babies race against time

The Royal Navy’s Duty Search And Rescue Crew At HMS Gannet raced a  specialist medical team to premature twin boys in

Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis the elite Glasgow team worked with Stornoway Hospital’s own neo-natal unit to ensure that the twins, born at 34 weeks, were stable, before they were loaded onto the Sea King in their incubators, for return to Glasgow’s Southern General Hospital.

The little boys, sons of Fiona and Peter McDonald, were born weighing just 2.22kg and 2.69kg respectively.

The tiny pair has been thriving over the weekend in the special care unit at Glasgow’s Southern General Hospital where mum and dad have been by their side.

“We are extremely grateful to everyone involved,” said Peter and Fiona. “The babies are doing really well and we hope to be heading home later this week.”

Speaking about the long journey, pilot Lieutenant Andy Ellis said: “It’s a real pleasure to be able to help like this.

“Showers reducing visibility”

“After picking the team up from Glasgow Airport, we had some pretty tricky flying on the way up, with strong headwinds, heavy showers reducing visibility, low cloud base, and we had to go round islands for clearer conditions.

“But we tried to get through as quickly as possible. And the journey back down was much quicker and straight forward.

“It was a good result from our perspective and it’s great to hear that the babies are doing well – which is the most important thing; that’s what it was all about – a happy ending.”

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