Dennis Quaid Talks About His Twins' Brush With Death: 'It Was the Worst Day of Our Lives'

Hollywood Life Staff — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 19:08:17 +0000

Three years after his newborn babies almost died due to a hospital error, the G.I. Joe star relives the nightmare, in the hope that no other parent will have to suffer what he and his wife — and childern — went through.

Dennis Quaid has finally revealed the full horror he and his family experienced in 2007 when his twins almost died due to a hospital error. And it is terrifying. In an interview with AARP magazine, Dennis says he knew there was something terribly wrong when he walked into his children’s hospital room in November 2007 and saw a team of doctors hovering over 12-day-old Thomas Boone and his sister Zoe Grace. “We could see them working on the kids,” says Dennis. “It was chilling.”

He was told that the twins had accidentally been given a massive overdose of the blood thinner heparin, putting them at risk of bleeding to death.

“They were bleeding out of every place where they’d been poked and prodded,” the actor says. After a doctor placed a clamp on little Thomas’ umbilical cord, a stream of blood shot across the room, hitting the wall. “We were in shock,” says Dennis.

The 56-year-old goes on to detail the babies’ battle for life, as they wailed in pain, their parents unable to soothe them. Dennis and his wife, Kimberly, stayed by their children’s bedside for 32 hours straight, gently touching them. “They were really in a lot of discomfort, crying,” he says. After two agonizing days, the twins’ were out of danger, and doctors who assessed their brain and motor functions, said they appeared normal.

As he looked at his sleeping babies, Dennis vowed to himself that he would make sure what happened to his kids never happened to anyone else. “I thought, ‘They’re 12 days old and they’re going to change the world.’” He has now become a crusader against the harm caused by medical errors.

And how are the twins now? The 3-year-olds show no signs of damage from the overdose and are just like any other kids. With one big exception: “They’re really tough, and they should be proud. Because of what happened to them, they already saved lives. This is their legacy.”

Hollywood Life » Thomas Boone Quaid

Dennis Quaid Talks About His Twins' Brush With Death: 'It Was the Worst Day of Our Lives'

Three years after his newborn babies almost died due to a hospital error, the G.I. Joe star relives the nightmare, in the hope that no other parent will have to suffer what he and his wife — and childern — went through.

Get the latest on the Quaid Clan and other celeb kids here: