“I called for my dad, and he came and looked, and it was like a scene out of a horror movie.”
This is what Cohen Hildebrand said of the day his recovery from a routine tonsil and adenoid surgery suddenly went awry in the most unpredictable way.
It’s a sequence of events etched into not only his memory, but also his family's.
While Hildebrand, his mother, and his father were still grappling with understanding the extent of his medical emergency, before they knew it, in an unforgettably gruesome moment of uncertainty, a STARS helicopter was there.
For Cohen’s mother, Megan, the arrival of the STARS helicopter was like calling in a “superhero.”
It’s likely that anyone who has seen the imposing STARS helicopter in action understands the sentiment. The helicopter often swoops in when it’s needed in rural communities where lifesaving resources are hours away by ground. It never fails to take flight without extensive specialized medical equipment to tackle almost any mission.
This week, the community acknowledges that despite the immense capacity of STARS, even superheroes need support.
April 1st and 2nd is the Critical Care on the Air Radiothon, which will raise funds for STARS and help a charity that helps families in their most dire moments, including the Hildebrands on that memorable day.
A normally straightforward procedure
The Hildebrands’ story began with tonsilitis.
“When I was about ten, ... I had to go in for surgery to get both my tonsils and my adenoids removed,” said Hildebrand. “Normally, it's totally fine. It's completely harmless. You feel a little tired for a week, and then you're totally back to normal, but lucky me, [I] didn't have that set of circumstances.”
For Hildebrand, there was “no sign” of anything out of the ordinary at first, so he was released from the hospital after his procedure and went home to recover.
At dinner time, while his family ate pasta, he felt a tickle in his throat. After a few coughs, the unexpected and unbelievable happened — one of the coughs loosened a mass, and suddenly, there was an onslaught of blood.
“My throat artery ruptured,” he said.
From that moment, Hildebrand’s father, John, knew time was of the essence.
“We just started gunning it for the hospital the entire way,” said Hildebrand.
Giving blood as quickly as losing it
When Hildebrand arrived at the hospital, his small 10-year-old frame was already suffering from blood loss. As quickly as hospital staff raced to replace his stores of blood, it left his weakening body through the rupture.
“It was as if we reached the edge of what [the hospital] could offer us in that moment, and they were calling in a superpower, like a superhero, to swoop in.”
-Megan Hildebrand, whose son received lifesaving transport by STARS, a charity supported by the Critical Care on the Air Radiothon.
At this point, a few chilling realizations set in. The first was that the care the local hospital could provide had reached its end. The second was that, due to storming wintry conditions, it was difficult to reach the nearest city by ground for proper medical care.
As is the case when medical options are exhausted in many rural Western Canadian communities, the critical moment to call STARS had arrived.
‘They come in [like] a well-oiled machine’
For Hildebrand’s mother, Megan, it was a flurry of events.
“I thought we were going to just get it straightened out, and I remember a shift in the room realizing this was very bad,” she said.
“It was as if we reached the edge of what [the hospital] could offer us in that moment, and they were calling in a superpower, like a superhero, to swoop in, and we didn't know it was that bad until that moment. It was very, very surreal.”
Despite the shock of the situation, Megan said that the arrival of the STARS team brought calm and confidence. This presence has developed over the course of 60,000 missions since the charity was established in 1985.
Elite training also helps.
“Our training is very intense, very thorough, and we practice and practice and practice, and that’s why we’re good at what we do,” said STARS flight nurse Bailey Sinclair in an earlier interview. “That’s why we can turn it on when somebody needs it the most.”
Even amid the confusion of her son’s critical moment, Megan could see the training at work.
“Knowing that they had [STARS] in their back pocket, it shows a sign of really good teamwork in healthcare to me. If they couldn't have done it, it’s very likely that Cohen wouldn’t have survived that day.”
-Megan Hildebrand on STARS, the recipient of funds raised by the Critical Care on the Air Radiothon April 1st and 2nd.
“They came in [like] a well-oiled machine,” she said. “They packed up our little kiddo on this stretcher, said some encouraging words to us, and took off.”
In-flight blood
Hildebrand doesn’t remember much about his STARS trip, but he does remember the determined words of encouragement from the team as it administered blood and transported him to the city.
It was a flight that paved the way to his survival because STARS helicopters across Western Canada are capable of providing blood transfusions to its patients in the air.
It’s one of the many medical features of the fleet of air ambulances that makes the difference. In Hildebrand’s case, it was a major component of why he’s still here today — and he isn’t the only one.
STARS VIP (Very Important Patient) Draidyn Wollmann was also airlifted to essential medical care in one of the charity’s red helicopters. He received blood in flight, too.
For the 16-year-old, disaster struck shortly after he began his first summer job riding a lawnmower for his hometown municipality.
An abrupt turn threw him from his seat, and the machine ran him over, dragged him, and then stopped when the cutting deck dropped onto his torso and a spinning blade embedded into his chest.
When STARS got the call for Wollmann, they immediately prepared blood. During the flight, it would prove vital, just as it had for Hildebrand.
“He had what we call agonal breaths, like very difficult breathing,” said flight paramedic Glen Pilon. “From my 30 years of experience, when somebody is trapped like that, you know that they only have about 10 minutes left to live.”
Determined to help Wollmann, the STARS crew immediately began infusing a unit of blood and administering other care. The result was that soon, the team was able to remove the blade from the youth and save his life.
Two young lives saved with the help of community
Since a large part of STARS’ fundraising comes from the local communities the service supports, the blood that helped save both Hildebrand and Wollmann was made possible by donors.
Funds from events such as the Critical Care on the Air Radiothon also go toward other equipment that keeps STARS ready and available, including oxygen tank refills, helicopter maintenance, pilot helmets, and supplies that can address almost any medical emergency.
‘When [our family] hears the helicopter coming to town, we pause’
For Megan Hildebrand and Christine Wollmann, all the particulars combine into a service that kept both families intact.
“Knowing that the hospital had [STARS] in their back pocket shows a sign of really good teamwork in healthcare to me,” said Megan. “If they couldn't have done it, it’s very likely that Cohen wouldn’t have survived that day.”
In the wake of Hildebrand’s recovery, the family has since met the whole flight crew. Megan says they’re a “very, very special” group.
Beyond that, hearing a helicopter in the distance is different for them now.
“When we hear the helicopter coming to town, we pause,” she said. “I don't think anybody realizes the value of that service until it's saving someone you love. Then it changes something in your brain instantly.”
To donate to STARS and the lives it saves, click here.