Parents praise staff who kept their son alive

A family whose son required extensive care at Starship Hospital has credited the facility’s intensive care unit with saving his life, as the hospital unveiled a $48 million renovation. The upgrades aim to enhance care for the more than 150,000 children Starship treats annually.

Major facelift after 35 years

Kelsi and Andy Porter’s son, Chase, was born in March 2017 and admitted to Starship’s Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) just one month later. Kelsi Porter described the initial experience as “so daunting.”

“We knew that Chase being that sick, we really needed to get to PICU to get that level of care for a child with such a catastrophic medical event,” she said.

The staff immediately reassured the family, offering a sense of hope. “The doctors often have to say the worst case scenario — and we’d heard a lot of worst-cases — but the PICU nurses came in and said, ‘congratulations on your baby’, and it’s the first time I’d heard that,” Porter explained.

Chase was later diagnosed with a rare genetic condition that led to heart failure, requiring a heart transplant. He became one of only four children in New Zealand to be connected to a Berlin Heart, a mechanical device used as a bridge to transplant.

He received a transplant at age six in 2023. Porter said the PICU nurses continued to provide support and “little bit of happiness” throughout his treatment.

“It was the nurses that were like, ‘let’s see if we can just sit up today’, or ‘let’s see if we could just do a little bit of Lego’. Just still seeing the human in him when he’s so sick, it holds quite a special place in our hearts as a family,” she said. “It’s the reason that Chase is still here. It’s the reason that Chase had access to the care and equipment that he needed to live.”

The renovated PICU, which opened in 1991, includes more beds, enhanced clinical technology, a dedicated high dependency unit, a new day-stay unit, expanded whānau areas, a state-of-the-art simulation suite and improved staff facilities.

The $23 million from the public, combined with $25 million in government funding, funded the project. Starship chief executive Jo Simon said the transformation was possible due to “extraordinary generosity.”

“Many, many supporters, including individuals, trusts and partners, believed in what this expansion could achieve,” she said. “Every gift, large or small, helped create a space where more children can survive and thrive.”

PICU nurse unit manager Nic Gini explained that the new high dependency unit areas allow for long-term patients to be moved to a quieter environment. “Overall, it’s just been an amazing experience for everybody, both staff and for whānau,” she said.

Porter expressed gratitude for the renovated facility, stating it would “help so many more children in New Zealand to live and to become healthy again and thrive.”