Liam Terrance's story   — Erik van Woudenberg, Utrecht, Netherlands

On November 9, 2004, Liam Terrance was born. He was the most beautiful baby boy in the world. He was grunting a little, but the doctor told us he might have a bit of a headache caused by the delivery. As my wife Amie had to stay in the hospital just a little longer, the nurse on duty did not agree with the headache theory and called in a doctor. The doctor said Liam had difficulty breathing and so he was moved into a medium care unit where he was put on oxygen. A few hours later Liam was brought to the NICU because things didn't get better. It was then that Liam was diagnosed with a infection, probably group B strep... We still had no idea how severe this infection was. They started him on antibiotics right away, put him on a high frequency ventilator, etc., etc. An ECMO treatment was suggested if he would continue to get worse... That night ( November 11th ) he didn't get worse and the next day he even stabilized. I kept a online diary as all this was happening. If you are interested to read the whole detailed story go to http://www.geocities.com/doopiedoopiedoo/shrimp1 Now, almost 8 months later, Liam is doing really well. He's growing, eating, sleeping, and discovering the world. We are very thankful to have our little boy at home.