ORIGINAL Article posted Jan 20 2010 12:00AM By Melissa Braun, Sun Staff Writer.

Starla Baker had little hope her 4-year-old son would ever know life beyond his bed and feeding tube following a choking accident last year.

“Zion was three when he choked on a slice of hotdog. He went pretty much 45 minutes without oxygen even though he had a heartbeat,” Baker recalled.

She will always remember that night as if it were yesterday.

“I was asleep in the bed with the flu — I always get sick that time of year. A friend was watching Zion for me,” Baker said. “I remember him bringing Zion to me and at that time Zion was already gasping for air.”

Baker dialed 911, but living close to the hospital in Enterprise, decided to drive to the emergency room.

“They took him right back. They were able to get a heartbeat, but couldn’t get the hotdog out. It was lodged too far down,” she said. “They decided to fly him to Birmingham. He wasn’t getting any air.”

After spending two weeks on a ventilator and a month at Children’s Hospital in Birmingham, Zion was released from the hospital, but his prognosis was grim.

Doctors believed his brain was hypoxic — despite receiving adequate blood flow, Zion’s brain had not received enough oxygen, Baker said.

Because of the diminished oxygen supply, Baker was told Zion would never swallow on his own, voluntarily move his legs, move his eyes or even look around a room and recognize his mother.

Hope found

Mark Fowler found a renewed sense of hope during a time of despair after he witnessed his grandson, predicted not to live past his second birthday, turn seven.

According to Fowler’s biography, his grandson was suffering from seizures almost every 20 seconds of his life and had to rely on a feeding tube to sustain his life.

Fowler, a Master Mason, is a member of the organization’s Selama Grotto in St. Petersburg, Fla. –– an organization that gave him a chance to save his grandson’s life.

“When the Selama Grotto entered into hyperbaric oxygen treatments my grandson was the recipient of our first chamber. Within three weeks of starting HBOT, our grandson was off his feeding tube and today very rarely has seizures,” Fowler’s biography states.

The treatments are conducted in large chambers in which the oxygen level is above normal for the atmosphere. The treatments are said to oxygenate dead tissues within the body, including the brain.

Combining first-hand experience with the treatments and his desire to help children, Fowler, his wife, Betsy, and fellow Masons soon established the Hyperbaric Center for Children Selama Grotto.

“For more than three years, my family has allowed numerous children to come into our home and get HBOT. Today, we have two of these chambers in our home and three more in other homes. There is nothing that can’t be accomplished,” said Fowler.

Fowler and his fellow Masons allow the family to use the chambers at no cost. Similar treatments, which have to be prescribed by physicians, costs generally $300 per treatment elsewhere.

An average treatment for a child is 10 treatments a week for a month.

Baker and Fowler join forces to help Zion Baker learned of the progress so many children were achieving receiving HBOT. She wanted Zion to have the same opportunity.

As a single mother, though, she couldn’t afford it.

With a little research and a lot of prayer, she said, she learned about Fowler and the Hyperbaric Center for Children.

On Jan 1, Baker and Fowler began working together to give Zion a chance for something more than a life confined to his bed.

“He is receiving two treatments a day, five days a week,” Baker said. “It has been amazing.”

After only two weeks of treatments, the results have been obvious.

“He is looking around the room. He wasn’t doing that before. Last night we were able to feed him baby food and he swallowed it on his own and we didn’t have to use a suction tube. We always had to use a suction tube,” she said, her voice wavering with emotion. “Before, he couldn’t move his legs. He couldn’t even bend his knees. Now, he pushed his chair. When I wash his face, he pushes back against my hand. He smiled!”

Most importantly, she said, as a mother, she now knows her son is once again aware of his surroundings.

Baker has hope for what the future might hold as Zion continues his treatments through Jan. 30.

“I would love for him to get rid of his feeding tube all together. There’s no telling how much progress we might make. Just after three days I was noticing so much progress and we have three weeks left. Even yesterday I was noticing a new sound Zion was making and Mr. Fowler was explaining that was Zion becoming more aware,” said Baker.

Zion’s medical progress, she said, is a miracle –– a miracle made possible through the kindness and giving of Fowler, the Masons and those who have donated to the Hyperbaric Center for Children Selama Grotto.

“There are so many amazing stories around here of children whose lives have been completely changed because of this and he (Fowler) does this completely for donations only,” Baker said. “It really is amazing.”

Baker asks that her community give back to a man who has given so much to help her son recover.

To donate to Fowler and the Hyperbaric Center for Children mail donations directly to Mark Fowler at 1235 Fairway Circle S., St. Petersburg Fl. 33750.

Photo: Zion Jackson smiles at his mother after receiving hyperbaric oxygen treatment in St. Petersburg, Fla. (Courtesy photo)