BATTLE WITH DEATH.

Thames Star, Volume LVII, Issue 15922, 10 September 1923, Page 5

BATTLE WITH DEATH.

TWO REMARKABLE CASES. - t LOCKJAW CURE. Tavo remarkable cases at Sydney Hospital show that so long as there is the slightest chance of saving human life, no effort is spared, and no expenditure is considered too high. That is, of course, as it should be. In one instance, loekjaAV was cured Avith 25,000 units of serum, Avhich cost £37 ,10s. In trying to save the life of a lad, artificial respiration was kept up for over tAvelve hours.

A girl,, while working at a machine injured one of her fingers. The wound was so slight that it was not considered necessary to stitch it, but a dressing Avas applied. Subsequently it Avas found that tetanus had set in. The girl Avas admitted to the hospital,, and remained in the institution for about three Aveeks. During the first Aveek the serum treatment was carried out, and after a quarter of a million units had been injected, the physicians pronounced the girl out of danger. HOW RAILWAYS HELPED. A boy was admitted to the hospital suffering from meningitis, which had commenced in the ear. An operation Avas performed, and at the end of the first Aveek the lad Avas doing so well that his father Avas allowed to return home to Excelsior, near Rylstone. At 8.45 one evening the boy took a bad turn, and it was seen that there Avas very little hope of recovery It was decided to advise' the boy’s ..father, but at that hour it Avas impossible to send an ordinary telegram Then some one thought of trying the railways to see Avhether a message eoidd be sent ove rtheir Avires. At 9 o’clock a telegram Avas despatched from the Central Station. It had to be repeated a couple of times, and eventually reached Excelsior at 9.55 p.m. —less than an hour. The boy’s father caught a train shortly before 10.30, and arrived in Sydney early next day. Tbe lad stopped breathing at 9 p.m —just about the time the . message Avas being sent to his father, but his heart continued to beat regularly and vigorously. Afitifielal respiration was commenced, and it Avas continued for over 12 hours. During that" anxious time the hoy’s father was on his way to Sydney. The lad died shortly after 9 a.m.