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Thomas Boone Quaid: What no one told you about Dennis Quaid’s son

Thomas Boone Quaid

Thomas Boone Quaid is the son of actor Dennis Quaid and Kimberly Buffington, his ex-wife. As an actor, Thomas’ father has played a wide range of dramatic and comedic roles. Breaking Away, Dragonheart, Vantage Point, and The Intruder are among his notable credits.

The Quaid twins are well-known; they made headlines shortly after their birth after contracting staph infections and being admitted to the hospital. During the stay, however, the newborn came dangerously close to death due to an accidental overdose of the blood-thinning drug Heparin.

Thomas, Quaid and Kimberly’s son, is one of their twin children who, like his womb mate, spent the first few weeks of his life battling a gruesome condition.

Thomas Boone Quaid

Dennis claims that this is by far the scariest time of his life. Learn more about why his son, Thomas, and daughter, Zoe Grace, needed Heparin in the first place, how they recovered from it, how they are doing now, and more in the write-up below.

Thomas Boone Quaid was born through surrogacy.

Thomas Boone, the son of Dennis Quaid and his second wife, Kimberly Quaid, was born on November 8, 2007, at St. John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, California.

As previously stated, he is Zoe Grace Quaid’s fraternal twin brother. On November 8, 2007, both were born via surrogate.

Thomas and his sister were conceived through the use of a gestational carrier. The former weighed 6 pounds, 12 ounces and arrived at 8:26 a.m. Zoe, on the other hand, weighed 5 pounds, 9 ounces and arrived two minutes late.

What was the reason for Thomas Boone Quaid and his sister’s need for heparin?

Staph infections struck Thomas and Zoe ten days after they were born. Doctors advised Dennis and Kimberly to bring their newborn babies to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

Their celebrity parents rushed them to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, where they were given intravenous antibiotics.

However, at the hospital, both infants reportedly received 10,000 units of Heparin blood thinner (twice!) instead of the prescribed 10 units — an overdose that nearly killed the children.

Their father, Dennis, later told the Los Angeles Times that no one informed him or Buffington about the accident that rendered their two babies’ blood clot-free.

They didn’t find out about the traumatic turn of events until they returned to the hospital the next day to see the twins.

“Our kids could have died and we wouldn’t have been able to come down to the hospital to say goodbye,” says the mother.

The Vantage Point actor elaborated.

Thomas and his sister began to bleed profusely after receiving Heparin.

Kimberly later stated that when the Quaids finally saw their babies, they were black and blue. Her children were bleeding, she added.

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According to their actor father, the overdose reduced Thomas and his sister’s blood to the consistency of water. Quaid went on to say that his twins, Thomas and Zoe, were bleeding everywhere the doctors poked them.

The adult dose, which is 1,000 times stronger than the pediatric dose, he claims, caused his twins to hemorrhage uncontrollably.

Boone’s belly button allegedly refused to stop bleeding, causing his blood to squirt across the room. They had only been alive for 11 days.

Fortunately, Thomas and his sister survived the life-or-death situation. Dennis later reported that it took Thomas and Zoe 41 hours from the first overdose to reach stabilization.

The infants were in intensive care for 11 days before making a full recovery. Thomas’ father describes the experience as the most terrifying of his life.

Dennis told People in 2015 about the medical scare.

“You enter a dark place.” But you have to pull yourself away from that and remain optimistic. But everything worked out in the end. “Everything worked out in the end.”

Following his recovery, Thomas Boone Quaid’s father sued a heparin company and was awarded a large sum of money.

After Dennis’ twins, Thomas and Zoe, recovered from an accidental overdose of the blood thinner Heparin, he and his then-wife, Kimberly Buffington, sued the medication’s manufacturer, Baxter Healthcare Corp.

Quaid and his ex-partner sued Baxter because the company failed to recall the vials after three premature babies died in a similar hospital overdose in Indiana two years ago.

They accused the company of failing to recall the drug after other infants died from medical mix-ups caused by poorly labeled vials.

Thomas Boone’s parents also reached a $750,000 settlement with Cedars-Sinai Medical Center after staff errors nearly killed their newborns. The hospital was also fined $25,000 by the California Department of Public Health.

In an interview with Theo Von and Matthew Cole Weiss’ podcast, Thomas Quaid’s father stated that, in addition to apologizing to all families affected, Cedars-Sinai vastly improved its protocol to ensure such deadly scares never happen again.

Kimberly, Thomas’ mother, was aware of the overdose before it occurred.

Kimberly recalls having a “premonition” something was wrong after she and Dennis returned from visiting the hospitalized babies at Cedars-Sinai the night the twins received the incorrect dose.

Dennis Quaid and his ex-wife, Texas-based real estate agent Kimberly Buffington, who is also the mother of Thomas and Zoe. Getty

However, hospital personnel assured them that the twins were recovering well from the staph infections and told the new parents to go home. Kimberly claims that she felt so anxious that Dennis called the hospital.

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According to the Quaids, they were told everything was fine, but when they arrived at the hospital the next morning, they discovered the overdoses.

What Caused the Overdose of Thomas Boone Quaid and His Sister?

Quaid claimed that five critical checks were missed by Cedars-Sinai hospital personnel. This resulted in the twins’ heparin overdose. Dennis believes the first overdose of his twins occurred while he and Kimberly were in the hospital.

The Texas-born actor added that the nurse who came in to change the medication failed to notify him or his ex-wife, Kimberly. According to state regulators, the medical errors began on Nov. 18 when two pharmacy technicians delivered 100 vials of heparin to the pediatric unit by mistake.

Thomas’ overdose later saved the lives of many infants.

While Thomas and his sister nearly died as a result of medical errors, they recovered and went on to become a driving force in saving the lives of many infants.

Mr. Quaid reported that following the miracle, the hospital really stepped up and instituted a lot of cutting-edge patient safety that led the way.

Dennis Quaid, Thomas’ father, has become a “health activist” following the Heparin controversy, and he and his ex-wife founded The Quaid Foundation — thequaidfoundation.org. The organization is dedicated to reducing the types of medical errors that occurred in hospitals when their newborn twins were born.

Since their recovery, the Quaids have been on a fact-finding mission to learn why medical errors occur so frequently and what can be done to prevent them.

In an interview, the twins’ actor father explained that while this was “the most terrifying time of [their] lives,” they felt compelled to “step up for it” to ensure that no other children or parents had to go through what his own children did.

What are the current whereabouts of Thomas Boone Quaid and his sister?

Years later, Quaid stated that, while he went “to a dark place,” he and then-wife Kimberly Buffington remained optimistic, and that the entire family “had a happy ending.”

While doctors were unsure whether Thomas and Zoe’s accidental Heparin overdose would have long-term consequences, their father revealed that years later, his children were not only surviving, but thriving.

“They’re as normal as they can be right now.” They’re like the class president.”

According to People, Quaid told Theo Von and Matthew Cole Weiss’ podcast Allegedly the above in 2015.

He added that the health of his children is the one factor that gives him the most peace of mind. Quaid also revealed that his favorite time is when he’s driving Thomas and Zoe to school.

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With all of their happy pictures on Dennis’ other son, Jack’s Instagram, one could argue that Quaid’s twins are ‘perfectly normal.’

Thomas’s Half-Sibling Is Also An Actor

In addition to Zoe, Thomas Boone Quaid has a 29-year-old half-brother, Jack, who was born from Dennis’ marriage to his ex-wife, actress Meg Ryan.

Jack, like his father, is an actor best known for his role as Hughie Campbell in the Amazon Prime series The Boys.

He also appeared in the 2012 blockbuster Hunger Games and HBO’s Vinyl.

What Is the Net Worth of His Half-Brother?

While the exact net worth of Thomas’ half-brother, Jack, is unknown, most media outlets estimate him to be worth around $2 million.

That, however, pales in comparison to his father’s Dennis wealth, which is estimated to be around $30 million, and his mother, Ryan, who has amassed an estimated $85 million fortune from her decades of acting.

Furthermore, Dennis stated in early 2020 that his income had significantly increased in the previous year. It’s worth noting that Quaid claims to have $21 million in owned property in the documents.

Jack may not be as wealthy as his famous relatives, but he appears to be on the right track, with his current work on The Boys receiving critical and commercial success.

Parents of Thomas Boone Quaid; Wives of His Father

Dennis and Kimberly Boone, Thomas’s parents, married in July 2004. Kimberly, Thomas’ mother, is a real estate agent. She and her ex-husband, Quaid, had two children through a gestational carrier after their marriage. Thomas and Zoe are the children.

Thomas’ parents, the Footloose actor and Kimberly, divorced for the first time in 2012, 5 years after the birth of Thomas and his twin sister. Kimberly later withdrew her petition, but she filed for divorce from the G.I. Joe star again in 2016.

Thomas’ father filed for divorce in February 2018, and the divorce was finalized in April of that year. Dennis and Kimberly share custody of Thomas and his younger sister.

Thomas’ grandfather was married to his first wife, P. J. Soles, from 1978 to 1983. He was the husband of actress Meg Ryan at the time. They had a son, Jack, together. However, Quaid and Ryan divorced in 2001.

Thomas’ father is now married to his fourth and much younger wife, Laura Savoie, whom he married in 2020. Dennis’ current partner, Laura Savoie, is a Ph.D. student and businesswoman at the University of Texas.

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