Football boss tells of his anguish as he witnessed grandson's battle for life

Published on Sunday 14 March 2010 21:53

FOOTBALL manager Jimmy Calderwood has described his despair at watching his newborn grandson fight for his life.

The Kilmarnock boss told how he jetted to Holland last Wednesday after his daughter Kay suffered complications while giving birth very prematurely to Colin.

Calderwood, 55, said Colin had been born "dead" and that doctors described the baby's survival as "a miracle".

Colin was born in Tilburg but, because he had breathing problems and had a suspected broken shoulder, was rushed almost 40 miles away to a highly-specialised maternity unit in Utrecht.

Calderwood said: "Kay didn't even get to see the baby when he was born. He was rushed to Utrecht in an ambulance and my daughter was allowed to follow three hours later."

The family, who kept a vigil at the hospital, were warned the first couple of days would be critical.

"My daughter and wife Sue sat outside waiting for news. They told us the first 48 hours would be critical. It was a bad time but the doctors were brilliant," he said.

"The baby was early but everything seemed in order but then it all went amiss and all the alarm bells were ringing," he said.

"He was rushed away and my daughter never saw the baby for the first 12 hours. There was all the worry about brain damage and all that stuff, but thankfully everything now looks fine.

"It's not been very nice.

My daughter was in a bad way but the baby was ten times worse.

"He was actually born dead and the concern was getting him enough oxygen.

"It's not a very nice thing to sit in a hospital through the night hearing people losing kids and screaming, it's not a nice experience.

"On Wednesday things were looking really bad, on Thursday they started improving a wee bit and then on Friday, it was good news so I decided to come back for the game.

"It's been a horrendous couple of days but it looks like everything will be fine."

Glasgow-born Calderwood moved to Holland in 1979 when he signed for Sparta Rotterdam from Birmingham City and the family settled in Tilburg, where he played for and later managed Willem II.

Although he moved back to Scotland in 1999 to manage Dunfermline and then Aberdeen before joining Kilmarnock two months ago, his son, Scott, and two daughters remained in the Netherlands.

Calderwood returned to Holland to be with his family immediately after Saturday's Active Nation Scottish Cup quarter-final tie against Celtic at Rugby Park.

Kilmarnock lost 3-0 but Calderwood, who describes himself as a "really bad loser", said: "It really puts football into perspective."

A recent report on premature births, by The Nuffield Council on Bioethics, said that in the Netherlands babies born before 25 weeks' gestation are not routinely given medical treatment.

Doctors there have scope to resuscitate babies born after between 24 and 25 weeks, depending on their vitality. Only if a baby seemed particularly healthy, or the parents were strongly in favour of resuscitation, might exceptions be made.

Scotland has the highest premature birth rate in the UK, with 7.3 per cent of all babies born before 37 weeks' gestation.

There has been a 16 per cent rise in the number of babies being transferred between neonatal units since 2004.