Internet gave parents tools to save Bella

DR GOOGLE: Rotorua dad Shaun Wyatt credits the internet with helping save his daughter Bella. PHOTO/BEN FRASER 140314BF1.JPG

Shaun and Rachel Wyatt don't need to contemplate the role Google played in saving their daughter's life - they only need to look at 7-year-old Bella bouncing around the living room.

The happy, bright little girl is a far cry from what the couple were told by medical professionals to expect after Mrs Wyatt's 19-week scan.

It was at the scan they discovered they were expecting twins with the rare twin reversed arterial perfusion, which meant one twin wouldn't survive and the other was unlikely to either.

"They basically gave her [Bella] a 5-10 per cent chance of making it."

Mrs Wyatt said the specialist who gave them the news at Rotorua "basically said nothing good could come from it and to terminate the pregnancy".

Minds boggling from the news, the couple headed home and decided to do their own research. That's how they found out about a procedure that could be done to save one of their babies.

From there life was a whistlestop tour of hospitals in the North Island - Rotorua Hospital, Waikato Hospital and finally Auckland Hospital - where they eventually found a visiting specialist who was aware of the procedure and willing to give it a try. That surgery was carried out at about 21 weeks, Mrs Wyatt's waters broke at 24 weeks and Bella made her entrance nine weeks early weighing 1800g.

Mr Wyatt said it was only natural to turn to the internet for more information when they were initially given the devastating news - and the couple were incredibly grateful they did and challenged the medical advice.

"We've got a reminder of it every day." Mrs Wyatt said researching the condition and challenging the medical advice was also "a confidence boost" that they had control over treatment and decisions.