Our Emotional Story:

Told by NeoHERO’s™ Founder, Lindsay Spurgeon, for the first time while presenting at The Frothy Beard for 1 Million Cups Charleston.

Premature Birth, Near Death, Miraculous Survival:
A Solo Fight at Twenty-Six Weeks

The labor began suddenly and quietly, four months too soon, catching the mother entirely alone in her home. At just twenty-six weeks gestation, the premature birth was terrifyingly swift. When the baby was born, they were fragile, translucent, and tragically silent, too underdeveloped to manage the immediate, vital functions of breathing and circulation outside the womb. The mother, in shock and despair, made the desperate call for emergency help, knowing intuitively that this was a crisis beyond her ability to manage.
When the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) team arrived, the severity of the preemie's condition and their tiny size immediately exposed a devastating gap in resources. The standard resuscitation equipment carried on the ambulance was designed for full-term newborns or larger children, rendering critical tools like masks and breathing tubes far too large and thus useless for the tiny, struggling infant. Without the necessary specialized, miniature equipment and lacking the specific, intense training required for an extreme prematurity scenario, the team's frantic attempts at stabilization proved tragically insufficient. Due to these limitations, the baby’s heart could not sustain the effort, and a complete cardiac arrest occurred during the rushed transport, leading to a grim period of thirty minutes without a heartbeat before reaching the hospital.
Upon arrival at the Emergency Room, the situation was taken over by a specialized Neonatal Resuscitation Team. This unit was equipped not only with the correct micro-sized equipment but also possessed the advanced, highly practiced skills from intensive Neonatal Resuscitation Program (NRP) training. Recognizing the urgency and knowing the precise protocols for such a tiny patient, they used specialized tools—like a tiny breathing tube and a carefully controlled resuscitation device—to restart the vital functions. Against all odds, and thanks to the team's expert intervention, the baby’s pulse was successfully restored after 30 minutes of silence. The newborn survived the initial crisis and, following months of intensive care, is now home. This child is a potent testament to the power of specialized medical preparation, underscoring the vital difference that the right equipment and expert training make in the face of an impossible early birth. This is the birth story of NeoHERO.