His recent first birthday wall all the more special to celebrate considering he wasn’t breathing for the first 22 minutes of his life.

Jet was born via an emergency caesarean at Maitland Hospital, had a dropping heart rate and needed specialist paediatric care available at the John Hunter Hospital immediately.

His parents Simon Midson and April Clements were left waiting nervously as Jet was taken to Newcastle but they knew he was in the good care of the Telstra Child Flight emergency helicopter service paramedic team.

Ms Clements said she was forever thankful for the services of Child Flight.

“We cannot begin to describe how grateful we are to the wonderful team – because of you guys [the Child Flight team], our son has a better chance of an almost normal life – we cannot thank you enough,” she said.

“They were absolutely amazing.

“You don’t realise how much help is out there until you need it.

“They don’t get enough recognition for what they do.

“If it wasn’t for them, we wouldn’t have Jet.”

Jet still has regular visits to the hospital and suffers from cerebral palsy, seizures and low muscle tone, but with his dynamic smile spread across his face, anyone would be hard-pressed to notice.

“He has come so far,” Ms Clements said.

“We are very lucky to still have him.”

Jet is just one of the 84 Maitland children who have needed the services of the

children’s rescue helicopter since it started in 2002.

Last year, 11 patients from Maitland used the helicopter.

Most patients from Maitland were less than three months old when they needed the service.

Some were born premature or had respiratory or cardiac problems, among other complaints.