By Ensign Caroline Hutcheson, USS Bataan Public Affairs - 25 January, 2010

USS BATAAN, At Sea (NNS) -- The medical team aboard USS Bataan (LHD 5) said goodbye to one of the first patients the team medically evacuated (MEDEVAC) in the Haiti relief efforts Jan. 24, reuniting the nine-month-old boy and his mother with their family in the vicinity of Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

Wilson Siere, flown with other rehabilitated patients to a receiving depot ashore, gathered an affectionate following among the medical staff and others during his time in the ward aboard Bataan.

"Everyone had some 'Wilson-time' built into their day," said Cmdr. William C. Wallace, officer-in-charge of Fleet Surgical Team (FST) 8. "He was on the (commanding officer's) regular schedule for a while."

The boy, extremely malnourished, dehydrated and suffering gastrointestinal complications, was crawling around in the medical ward after only a few days of treatment.

"Baby Wilson was our first miracle," said Senior Chief Corpsman Huben L. Phillips, leading chief petty officer of Bataan's medical staff, and added that the boy quickly became a part of the Bataan family. Phillips rescued the child on a MEDEVAC mission to a small village outside Port-au-Prince, where he was sent to find a young woman with pelvic fractures, who had recently delivered a child who did not survive.

The team walked miles through fields after their vehicle could not make it through the roads anymore. They found the woman in a gathering of adults with foam mattresses for beds and sheets strung up as homes.

"Then someone said, 'Senior, you have to look at this baby,'" Phillips said. "They put him in my arms, and he was lifeless."

An interpreter called the child's mother, and the team was back to Bataan for the first emergency medical evacuation of the ship' relief efforts.

"He was so very lethargic and weak, dehydrated and starving, and today he is the inspiration that lifts our spirits," said Senior Chief Corpsman Brian E. Wenzel of FST-8. "He smiles, laughs, loves to touch your face and explore his new friends."

Wenzel said the boy is developed at about a 6-month age but continues to gain weight and remain alert.

"He survived one of the world's most horrific catastrophes and has served as a reminder of the resilience and strength of these people even as an infant," Wenzel said.

Once Baby Wilson was well enough to be transferred back to Haiti, the ship's commanding officer, Capt. Sam Howard, asked Phillips if he would escort the boy and his mother home.

The team transported Wilson and other patients to a landing zone manned by non-government organization workers and joint military personnel, where vans with interpreters transfer Haitians affected by the earthquake back to their villages and towns.

Wilson will be reunited with his father and two older brothers.

It was an emotional goodbye for the medical team and everyone who had grown to know the child.

"I said goodbye to him alone on the ship," Phillips said. "I told him I want him to become a man who could affect change in the world. To be in a place so desolate at this time, only a man of great character would arise."

Phillips said he held Wilson the entire helicopter ride to the island. He handed the child to his mother and she looked at him, shaking her head with tears streaming down her face.

"The interpreter turned to me, and said 'she just doesn't have the words.'"

For more news from USS Bataan (LHD 5), visit www.navy.mil/local/lhd5/.