After flying all the way from Shanghai to Singapore, this was not what we hoped to hear from Naomi's new doctor.
After just a few days in the Shanghai hospital's general ward, we were really depressed. We feared Naomi would indeed remain in vegetative state and we did not know what to do. Naomi’s doctor told us we could still to stay in the hospital for some time but made it clear there was nothing else they could do. She urged us to go to our home country to seek further medical care but warned us that Naomi might not survive the trip. Over the next few days they kept reminding us to go but we felt we had no choice but to stay. What if something happened on board the plane? A couple of days later, the team of doctors that looked after Naomi deemed her condition sufficiently stable to transfer her to another country, however, the risk of heart failure and seizures remained high. It was up to us to decide where to go. It was first of a host of decisions we would have to make where none of the options appeared to be in our favour.
We were afraid to leave the hospital but we couldn't stay. If we wanted to continue Naomi's treatment, we had to go. We had to take the risk and leave not just the hospital but the country.
To lower the risk of something happening during our travels, we wanted to go somewhere close. Going to Jakarta – Paulina's home city – did not seem like a great choice. Neither was my home country, Holland, which would have been way too long a flight. Considering the quality of potential hospitals, we basically had two options: Hong Kong or Singapore. We ruled out Hong Kong because we wanted to get away from China. We wanted to be in an environment where we could talk with anyone in English. So we decided to transfer Naomi to KK Women's and Children's Hospital in Singapore. To make the transfer possible, six seats would be removed from a Singapore Airlines plane so that a bed along with medical equipment could be installed. We would also be accompanied by two doctors who would look after Naomi the entire trip.
On 5 March 2010, everything had been arranged and early in the morning, an ambulance drove Naomi and myself to the airport whilst Paulina and Sienna followed by car. When we arrived at the airport, Paulina, Sienna and I had to go through the regular procedures whereas different arrangements had been made for Naomi and the doctors. After we had finally made it to the gate, we looked at the plane and wondered if Naomi was already on board. Standing there at the window, we saw the ambulance driving up to the plane and stopping at its tail. The rear plane door was opened and Naomi, together with the equipment, was raised up to the door on a platform normally used to load luggage into the plane. It was a surreal display that sadly emphasised Naomi's critical condition. Naomi was transferred into the plane and out of sight.
When we got on board too, we were glad to see Naomi in good care, although it was heartbreaking to see her on that bed surrounded by monitors and other equipment. Naomi was surprisingly peaceful during the flight, just like she had been during the trip in the ambulance, and after five hours of flying, we smoothly arrived at Changi Airport, where an ambulance was waiting for us at the platform. We hurried to the hospital and ended up in a modern, clean and private room. No more old metal beds, dirty floors, stained walls, crawling cockroaches or people smoking cigarettes! Plus, we could finally communicate with the doctors in English. Relieved that Naomi had safely made it to Singapore, we had high hopes that in this new environment we could begin her rehabilitation.
The next morning we had our first meeting with the head neurologist who would be Naomi's main doctor. He walked into the room, glanced at Naomi and said: “You know, I've seen many of these kids. Don't get your hopes up.” That pretty much summed up the visit. We were both flabbergasted and devastated. After all we had been through, this was not the type of welcome we expected to receive.
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