The family of a baby girl who needed a lifesaving heart operation have praised the medics who saved her – including a charity-funded helicopter team whose mercy mission was crucial to her survival.

The Children’s Air Ambulance was scrambled when doctors at Dorset County Hospital realised that baby Jessica Williamson needed to be transferred to specialists in Southampton for open heart surgery.

Jessica's family said the 'green goddess' helicopter, which is operated by a charity, was a lifesaver and they felt 'very lucky it was available when they needed it.

Ian and Lizzie Williamson, from Weymouth, found out about their daughter’s heart defect when they went for a 20-week scan and they always knew that she would have to have an operation. However, they were not expecting the scenario that would follow soon after Jessica’s birth.

At 16 days old she had to be admitted to Dorset County Hospital – where she was born – as she was struggling to breathe. The doctors there referred her to Southampton Children’s Hospital where she spent four weeks before being transferred back to Dorchester.

At only three kilos, she still didn’t weigh enough to be operated on, but her condition had been stabilised and an Optiflow system was helping her breathing.

Two weeks later Jessica’s breathing began to deteriorate again and she urgently needed to go back to Southampton.

Because it was necessary for her to be transported whilst on the Optiflow system she couldn’t be taken in a land ambulance. A specialist paediatric ambulance that could have made the trip was needed elsewhere.

This is where the Children’s Air Ambulance (TCAA) was able to help.

It was mobilised from its base in Oxford and flew to Southampton to pick up the specialist paediatric crew from Southampton Oxford Retrieval Team (SORT) – one of the clinical partners working with TCAA – and take them to Dorchester. They then prepared Jessica for the flight back to Southampton.

Lizzie said: “Up until the last minute we were expecting a road transfer to Southampton and then we were told it would be by helicopter. When we were told that the Children’s Air Ambulance was definitely coming that day we were so relieved."

She added: “We were expecting a fairly straightforward transfer but by then Jessica had taken a turn for the worst. She got very distressed and she had a very high heart rate. The SORT team decided to sedate and intubate her and put her on a ventilator prior to flying. She was looking quite grey and unwell at that point.”

It took just 25 minutes by air to transfer Jessica compared with a road journey by land ambulance of well over an hour, not allowing for traffic delays.

Ian, who went in the helicopter, said: “It was about 5pm on a Friday when we were flying. I remember looking out of the helicopter and seeing cars backing up on the motorway and thinking how glad I was that we were in the sky and not on the road."

On arrival at Southampton, Jessica went straight into the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit.

She stayed there, with Ian and Lizzie constantly by her side, for two weeks whilst medical staff prepared her for her surgery, which she now desperately needed.

Ian said: “At 12 weeks old Jessica had open-heart surgery. Before her surgery, we were told that it was likely she would need further operations, but when she came out of theatre the surgeons were really positive about how it went."

Nearly 16 months later she is incredibly well and her cardiologist now feels it is unlikely that she’ll need further surgery – which is such a relief for her parents, who describe her as 'a gorgeously cheeky toddler'.

Lizzie said of the air ambulance: “It was such an emotional and beautiful sight seeing this green goddess emerging in the sky and landing at the hospital, knowing that Jessica was now where she needed to be for her lifesaving surgery.

Lizzie and Ian say they were 'very reassured by the quality of care' their daughter received from the SORT team and the helicopter pilots.

The couple will always be grateful to everyone who played a part in getting Jessica to where she needed to be for her lifesaving operation.

They said: “We were totally gobsmacked when we were told that the Children’s Air Ambulance is a charity and feel very lucky that this amazing facility was made available for our daughter when she needed it. We always felt she was in very safe hands. The Children’s Air Ambulance will always have a very special place in our hearts”

To find out more about the charity call 0300 3045 999 or visit www.childrensairambulance.org.uk