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Lisa Dempster, Calgary Herald

Her memory of the day is as cloudless as the fluid that has transformed her young daughter's life.

Days after delivering her sixth child, Jessica Dolamore was relaxing in the hospital room next to her husband, Michael, watching as a nurse poured distilled water -- clear and pure -- into the humidifier attached to their baby's isolette incubator.

There wasn't enough water in the plastic bottle, so the nurse excused herself to fetch more. She arrived back in a few minutes, chatted some more with Jessica and Michael, then opened the second plastic bottle and drained it into Hannah's incubator.

This time, it wasn't pure, clear distilled water, or any life-giving liquid. It was formaldehyde.

Seven months after Hannah's protective incubator was infused with the toxic mixture for what they believe to be about 25 minutes, her family is still fighting for answers as to why their beautiful little girl has been slow to develop, prone to severe allergic reactions and hooked up to oxygen for 24 hours a day.

Last Nov. 14, Hannah appeared to be a healthy infant. Born at Foothills Hospital -- doctors had recommended that she be delivered in Calgary due to her mother's gestational diabetes -- she emerged into the world at a pinkish six pounds, five ounces. Hannah was transferred closer to home to Lethbridge Regional Hospital to be treated for a minor case of jaundice.

On Nov. 19, her tiny belly swollen with the comfort of her mother's warm milk, Hannah dozed in her isolette at the hospital, as her six-year-old brother, Paul, reached inside and played with her foot.

Jessica looked on contentedly. The mother of six felt comfortable with the care she had received at the ......Lethbridge Regional Hospital.

Neither the nurse nor the Dolamores noticed anything wrong as Hannah slipped into a deep sleep. At 6:40 p.m., just over an hour after they had arrived, Jessica and Michael bundled up their son and headed for home in nearby Magrath to fix dinner for the rest of their family. They returned to the Lethbridge hospital at 8:30 p.m., and Hannah was brought to them wrapped in a blanket.

But something was wrong.

"We noticed that her head was red," recalls Jessica, "So we unwrapped her. Her entire body had turned red, and she was just like a limp rag doll."

Jessica tried to dribble a little milk into her baby's mouth, but it came right back out.

"She was barely breathing . . . we couldn't get her to wake up, we couldn't get her to latch on to breastfeed. Our baby didn't even move. I was crying, 'what is wrong with my baby . . . is the jaundice so bad that she's like this?'

" Reassured by the nurses on the ward that they had nothing to worry about, Jessica and Michael left for home, still feeling uneasy.

When they returned to the hospital the following day, a doctor listened to Hannah's chest, told them they could take her home, and then revealed some startling news.

"She explained to me that they had had a small incident in the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) where Hanna had been exposed to formaldehyde," says Jessica. "I was shocked. I was absolutely astounded. But I was comforted by what they said, that it was a little bit of formaldehyde for just a short period of time, minutes."

A toxic, foul-smelling gas and suspected carcinogen, formaldehyde is soluble in water and often used in that form as a disinfectant and preservative.

The Dolamores now believe Hannah was virtually steeped in the formaldehyde solution within her isolette for at least 25 minutes before the error was discovered.

Three days later after Hannah arrived home, her skin began to peel like a sunburn, and she slowly turned a dusky blue. Within days, she was admitted to Alberta Children's Hospital in Calgary, and put on oxygen as doctors tried to discover what was depressing her breathing.

"I couldn't get her to wake up," Jessica remembers. "A normal baby, you feed them, change them and put them to bed, they'll go to sleep and when they're tummy bothers them they wake up and cry to be fed. She never did that.

"We were being told Hannah was fine, but our eyes told us she wasn't."

Officials with the Chinook Health Region, which is responsible for the hospital, have been quoted in the local media saying they have improved the labelling of distilled water and chemicals in the wake of the accident.

"The literature suggests that after a single, small exposure, no delayed or long-term effects are likely to occur," Dr. Paul Hasselback, medical officer of health for the Chinook Regional Health Authority, said in March.

Today, Hasselback is not willing to speculate. "In terms of legal implications, we've been advised by our lawyer not to make any comments,"

he said. Hannah Dolamore looks like a normal baby as she blinks up at a visitor from her car seat bucket placed on the living room floor. Ignoring the oxygen tube prongs up her nose, she smiles and attempts to stuff her foot in her mouth.

A pretty baby, certainly. But Hannah is now seven months old, and can't sit up, roll over, crawl, or reach out to grasp objects. She will not eat solid foods, and spends her nights in the car bucket because lying flat causes her breathing problems.

"I know babies can develop at different times, but I also know that by six months, she should be doing these things. By three months she should be doing them," said Jessica. "After having five children, I know there are variations in their progressions, but not like this."

If Hannah is exposed to makeup, deodorant, aftershave, or perfume, or if she's driving in a car that passes over recent road repairs or follows a diesel truck, if she comes into contact with certain fabrics, carpeting or paint, her skin begins to redden, she pants and begins to cry. Afterwards, she is exhausted, and blank-faced. Yet traditional allergy irritants, such as cats, eggs and milk, or cut grass, cause her no distress.

Jessica and Michael are convinced that their daughter's chemical sensitivities and developmental delays are a direct result of the exposure to the formaldehyde, and they now want to take Hannah to a special environmental clinic in Colorado to try and find a solution. They have phoned experts from around the world in their search for answers.

"The doctors have told us they cannot find any recorded incident of this happening to a child before," she adds. "This is new ground for everyone."

Formaldehyde is used widely in the manufacture of building materials and numerous household products. A 37 per cent solution, called formalin, is used to fix and preserve specimens in hospitals. It is this mixture the Dolamores believe was used in Hannah's isolette.

Scientific studies have shown that formaldehyde has caused cancer in lab animals, and may also in humans, with the risk dependent on the amount and duration of exposure.

When present in the air at levels at or above 0.1 parts per millilitre, acute health effects in adults can occur including watery eyes, burning sensations in the eyes, nose and throat, nausea, coughing, wheezing, chest tightness, and skin rashes.

Dr. Peter Singer, deputy chief toxicologist with Alberta Medical Examiner's Office in Edmonton, agrees cases involving infants and formaldehyde are virtually unknown.

"There's a lot industrially that has been done on formaldehyde, but I know nothing that's been done on children," he says.

"There's very little in the literature, nothing you can grab ahold of."

The incident is also under investigation by the Health Facilities Review Board, an Alberta Health committee led by Warner MLA Ron Hierath.

Alberta Health spokesman Garth Norris said while he can't discuss details of the Dolamore case, or even confirm an investigation is under way, the nine-member committee can make recommendations to the hospital facility or to Health Minister Halvar Jonson.

The Dolamores say they have applied to have Alberta Health help pay for the out-of-country assessment and any treatment Hannah will need.

Norris says Alberta Health will pay only for proven medical treatments not available within the province.

The family is now turning to the community for help in raising funds. They're also hoping to build Hannah an environmentally friendly home made of steel, glass and ceramic.

But they are a long way from their goal. The family of eight lives in Magrath, about 30 kilometres west of Lethbridge, in a small rented bungalow which has recently been put up for sale by its owner.

Their lives have been changed dramatically since the accident at the Lethbridge hospital. Every dollar is scrounged, and Jessica sells hand-made soap to make ends meet.

Michael Dolamore, who sorts and packs wool for the Canadian Wool Growers Co-op, says stress has made it difficult for him to focus on his job.

"And at home . . . we struggle," he admits. "It just seems like the whole weight of the world is on us. We're totally inexperienced with the problems that Hannah is facing, and quite honestly, so are the doctors in Canada."

The Dolamores, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, have relied on their Mormon faith and friends, but realize the next step may take a miracle.

A fund-raising auction set for June 26 at the Lethbridge Exhibition grounds promises to be a start. After Jessica mounted an international letter and phone campaign, several major-league sports teams donated autographed items, including a Wayne Gretzky hockey stick, jerseys from the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Utah Jazz and a valuable World Series baseball.

"It's amazing what Jessica has done," marvels Chris Sadleir, promotions director for Country 95.5 in Lethbridge which is helping co-ordinate the auction. "She's a very quiet lady from Southern Alberta who is making waves all over the world."

And perhaps, very soon, in court. A Calgary lawyer has confirmed he will be acting for the family as they pursue a lawsuit. "The legal area will take years," says Jessica Dolamore. "But Hannah needs our help right now."

To bid on items in the auction or make a donation, call (403) 758-6282.