Katrina Hooper of Tupelo, Miss. knew her 3-month-old son Christopher was a very active baby.  But when she picked him up on the afternoon of June 8, his playful lunge backward turned to tragedy.

"He fell out of my arms and hit the floor," she said.  "I immediately saw a lump on his head." She called her husband, Shane, and kept telling her self to keep Christopher awake.  "When you're there by yourself and you don't know what to do, it feels like an eternity.  I remember praying, 'Please don't take my baby.'" It was the first of many prayers for Christopher.

Shane and Katrina rushed Christopher to their pediatrician, who ordered a CAT scan at North Mississippi Medical Center in Tupelo.  After a test, Katrina remembers a doctor telling her, "There is bleeding in his brain. We've called Le Bonheur.  They're going to airlift him to Memphis."

Shane said he knew it was serious when he heard "Le Bonheur."  A short time later, Le Bonheur's Transport Team, Pedi-Flite, arrived by helicopter ready to take little Christopher back to Memphis. When the highly trained crew was ready to take him on board, Kay Stewart, R.N., became concerned because he stopped crying.  After further assessment, Kaye and Gracie Knight, R.R.T., decided to place a breathing tube and connect Christopher to a portable ventilator, a proactive moved that helped save his life. "The way his condition was deterioratitng, I don' think he would have made it from Tupelo to Le Bonheur breathing on his own," Shane said.

An hour after arriving at Le Bonheur, Christopher was in surgery with Dr. Robert Sanford, a pediatric neurosurgeon who removed a blood clot from the baby's brain. "If we had not gotten him back here in time, he would have died," Kaye said.

Now Christopher is back to his playful self and right on track developmentally.  "You can't tell anything happened," Katrina said.

After the accident, Shane wrote these words in a letter to Kaye, "Thank you for the care and support.  My son Christopher is still with us today because of your efforts.  Every time I see his smile, my heart thanks you."

Katrina has similar feelings about Nurse Kaye Stewart.  "I believe people come into your life for a reason.  God sent us an angel that day," she said.

Please  click here to read more about other special children whose lives were saved by Le Bonheur's excellent care.