Lochlan Jameson was only alive for 22 days, but his parents consider every single one a special gift.
One of only three children in medical history diagnosed with a rare and untreatable genetic cellular malformation, a team of 20 doctors at the NICU at BC Women's Hospital performed miracle after miracle to keep him alive after he was born by emergency C-Section.
"He had two chest tubes, he was intubated, he couldn't open his eyes because he was so completely full of fluid," said Vancouver mom Katie Jameson. "He didn't look like a regular baby."
Every day new incisions were made into Lochlan's tiny body to drain fluids, but it was little comfort. The newborn was being kept alive on a ventilator and was maxed out on pain medication.
After consulting with teams of geneticists and neonatologists, Katie and her husband Andrew made the hardest decision of their lives: to take their newborn baby off life support.
"He just couldn’t live anymore," she said.
Because his small body was so fragile and he had been constantly hooked up to multiple machines, Katie and Andrew had only held their baby twice in his entire life.
Doctors said he would only live for another few minutes, but the couple ended up having 27 hours to take their son into the sunshine, cuddle and hold him. Lochlan slept soundly in his parents' arms before passing away.
"We got a whole day with him without any tubes and machines and we got to just hold him. It was a gift," she said, breaking into tears.
Although Lochlan died two-and-a-half years ago, the rawness and emotion remains a constant. But so too does the memory of the incredible support the family received from doctors, nurses and care aids.
Now the parents to one-year-old twins, Wallace and Mackenzie, their experience at the NICU has propelled the Vancouver restauranteurs into making a difference for other babies at risk.
The owners of the Mackenzie Room restaurant donated $10,000 on what would have been Lochlan's first birthday, and another $10,000 when Wallace and Mackenzie turned one.
"I think a lot of people don't know what happens at the NICU – they think it's where babies go for a few days. Those people should be paid a million dollars. They are heroes," said Katie Jameson.
Mackenzie Room is among Vancouver’s top restaurants participating in next week’s Sip and Savour, a food-focused event aimed at raising $80,000. The funds will be used to purchase a much-needed Omnibed incubator, which provides premature and critically-ill newborn babies with "womb-like conditions."
Guests will be served canapes and drinks from acclaimed restaurants including Minami, Juke, Hawksworth and The Acorn.
The second-annual event is organized by Sarah Robbins, whose baby Charlotte spent three days in the NICU after a complicated labour.
Like the Jamesons, Robbins said she felt the need to "pay it forward" to help babies that are born too soon, too small or too sick to survive without help.
"We are so thankful for the lifesaving care they gave to our daughter," she said. "They go above and beyond every single time."
