European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 6, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                10,000-mile mercy flight pays affair Force team proves Lifesaver for sailors Young son Lauri Gray Eaton san Antonio my decal Center Tobias Walker with his parents Melanie and Reginald Walker. A we have so Many people to thank a sat in father. By j. King Cruger Mediterranean Bureau although Tobias Walker remains in in Tensive care and faces at least two More years of treatment and therapy the pcs pirate Battle to save his life apparently has been won. A Tobias is up and about and playing games the boy s father said in a Telephone interview recently from naval station Rota Spain. Tobias the son of chief Petty officer Reginald Walker and Petty officer 1st class Melanie Walker is being treated at Wilford Hall medical Center at Lackland fab Texas where he was brought near death in late july after a mercy Mission of More than 10,000 Miles. Tobias then 14 months old drank charcoal starter fluid on the evening of july 19 at his parents Home near the naval station. He began vomiting several hours after being admitted to Rotas naval Hospital. Doctors than arranged for the boy to be transferred to a paediatric intensive care unit at a Spanish Hospital in nearby Cadiz. On july 21, the child a condition deteriorated rapidly and he was diagnosed As suffering from acute hydrocarbon pneumonia is or lung damage caused by ingestion of the fluid. Meanwhile Tobias had two heart attacks and doctors were having trouble getting enough oxygen into the child a blood although Tobias was hooked up to breathing equipment his father said. Doctors in Cadiz put Tobias into a partial coma to Stop him from thrashing around and impeding his treatment. A they paralysed him so that his lungs and heart could Start to heal a Walker said. Doctors determined Tobias life could be saved Only by a rare surgical procedure known As extra corporeal membrane oxygenation Echo. The procedure provides a victims heart and lungs time to heal by bypassing them. Blood is routed through a tube inserted into the patient s carotid artery in the neck and then into a machine. The machine pumps oxygen into the blood before returning it to the patient. More than 75 hospitals in the United states and several in Europe can perform the procedure but Tobias doctors believed moving him would be fatal. They turned to an air Force for help because Wilford Hall has a team that can transport patients hooked up to the equipment. Navy personnel at Rota contacted air Force medical authorities to request the emergency medical team from Texas. Within hours the 11-htember team and its Echo equipment left Texas on the first available plane a Kc-10 Tanker. Following a 16-hour, 5,200-mile trip to Rota the team connected Tobias to the equipment. Early the next morning they flew him out aboard a c-141 Star lifter accompanied by his parents and sister Christine 5. The flight to save Tobias marked the first time the team had crossed the Atlantic and was by far its longest journey since it first performed the procedure in 1985, said or. Air Force maj Henry Chou the team s paediatric surgeon. Tobias remained on the machine for 9h Days said Reginald Walker. A they tried to take him off the Echo but in the process his heart stopped and the doctors lost him for 10 minutes a the father said. A after the Echo they put Tobias onto a High frequency ventilator an apparatus that shoots air into the lungs about 1,000 times a minute. That went on for around two months and during that time he remained in a Semi coma while being fed intravenously a the father said. Eventually Wilford Hall staffers put Tobias on a regular ventilator and then let him off it to breathe unassisted for a few hours at a time. For the last month Tobias has been breathing on his own though he a still connected to monitors in the intensive care unit Walker said. A a it a up in the air right now How much longer he will remain in intensive care. We Hope Tobias May be Able to come Home by thanksgiving but we know that he faces another two years or More of treatment and therapy at Wilford Hall. Doctors did a brain scan on Tobias two weeks ago and found his brain is Normal. A that was a big Relief for us a said the father. A despite the two heart attacks he had in Cadiz Tobias does no to seem to have heart damage but doctors have found a dead area the size of a Quarter on his left lung. They done to know How that will affect him a Walker added. Air Force sgt Scott White at Wilford Halls Public affairs office said Tobias was doing Well. A a he a running around the Hospital. Friday he came by the office trick or treat ing a White said. Last month Reginald Walker returned alone to Rota to pack up his household goods so he can soon report to his next assignment. Early in Tobias stay at Wilford Hall his parents were temporarily assigned to Navy units near Lackland fab in san Antonio. Both parents have received humanitarian re assignments to the san Antonio area so Tobias can continue treatment at Wilford Hall. The Cost of the mercy Mission and Tobias treatment has run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars said George Selling a Wilford Hall spokesman. Aside from a Small daily fee the care of Tobias has not Cost the walkers anything. A the care of military dependents in a military medical facility is completely covered a Selling said. Said Reginald Walker a we have so Many people to thank for taking care of Tobias that i done to know where to begin. A we thank god we have been around so Many caring people in the european theater and the United states. This has made us aware of the Power of prayer and the goodness of  Leader thwarts rebels in Europe vote by the new York times London a prime minister John major narrowly beat Back an Alliance of conservative party rebels and rival labor party politicians who came within three votes wednesday night of dealing the governments political authority a crippling setback. In a showdown in the House of commons major and his aides cobbled together a coalition of about 300 conservative loyalists and members of the Small pro european Liberal democratic party to pass 319316, a symbolic motion that pledged his government a to play a leading role in the development of the european  in doing so major pried away just enough a veers from a Core of 35 tory rebels opposed to major a support for the treaty on european Union. They had been joined by nearly All 270 members of the opposition labor party whose pro european leadership had seized on the Issue hoping to Deal major a lethal blow. The prime minister whose government has been forced into several embarrassing reversals on economic and monetary policy in recent weeks had staked his personal and political prestige on winning the motion. Majors Victory came after hours of lobbying among wavering tory backbench ers at least one of whom was reduced to tears on wednesday night after a session with party whips. While major narrowly reasserted his authority wednesday night the matter of the treaty is not resolved. The House of commons now will begin to debate it in full leading toward a final ratification vote Likely Early next year. The rebellion among tory backbench ers ensures the 651-seat House of commons will be the scene of considerable political drama through the Winter since major and his government hold Only a 21-seat majority after their Victory in National elections last Spring. Warning that Britain could be left without influence on the fringe of Europe should it turn its Back on european Union major said in an impassioned 50-minute speech that Britain so National self interest was at stake in the vote