A life blessing and celebration was conducted Thursday, Sept. 4, at the Middlesex County Volunteer Rescue Squad (MCVRS) building in Deltaville, as little Wayland Van-Metre of Wake had his arms wrapped around his mother’s neck and showed off those sparkling baby eyes, with an occasional grin — no tears on his face.
On June 4 late in the afternoon, then-five-week-old preemie Wayland struggled to breathe, which started a series of life-saving events that resulted in a rush of medical personnel from Wake to Gloucester to Richmond to save his life.
It started with the terrified voices of his parents, Scarlet and Kari Van-Metre, over the phone calling E-911 and Middlesex County dispatchers alerting MCVRS to rush to their home.
On arrival, rescue squad personnel found little Wayland struggling to breathe. They were able to stabilize him enough to transport him and his family to Riverside Walter Reed Hospital in Gloucester only to have the MCVRS ambulance break down right in front of the hospital door.
It was determined immediately Wayland needed to go to Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Health Center Hospital in Richmond and he needed to get to that facility as soon as possible via helicopter. When the helicopter arrived, there was a wait of more than two hours on the landing pad as medical personnel worked frantically to stabilize Wayland’s breathing enough to make the trip.
At VCU Wayland’s breathing continued to go in and out and he started having seizures. As doctors and nurses rushed to save his life, his right lung collapsed, but they were finally able to stabilize his condition.
Kari and Scarlet have been married two years and Wayland is their first child. He was born a preemie but had been doing fine until that day, said Scarlet.
Test, test and more tests have not revealed the cause of the problem, said Scarlet. “That is really the scary part,” she said. “We don’t know what caused it but we are happy to be here today to thank everyone who helped us. Wayland is doing fine.
“That day the best of the best were looking after us,” she said. “If anything had gone a little bit different. I fear we would have lost him.”
Many of the rescue personnel involved were at the event to celebrate little Wayland’s recovery. Scarlet looked over at the people behind her. They were socializing as this interview was being conducted. “They saved my baby’s life!” she said.
Leslie Krom of the MCVRS said “everything had to go just right that day” even in that our rescue squad vehicle broke down in the right place (in front of the hospital in Gloucester) and with everyone doing their job to save Wayland. We’ve brought all these people together today to celebrate him and his family.”
