Our son Ethan was born at the QMC hospital in Nottingham on 21st March 2008 - he was 12 weeks early and weighed just 2lb 14oz. He was taken to the neonatal unit straight away and did really well for the first 12 hours but then needed to be ventilated as he was struggling to breathe by himself. He was only on the ventilator for 2 days before moving to CPAP (which is less invasive but helps push oxygen into his lungs) for 5 days and then to nasal canulas for 8 weeks. We were very fortunate in that, apart from needing a small amount of additional oxygen, Ethan was in pretty good health - just very small!
Over the next 10 weeks Ethan put on weight, moved from an incubator into a cot, had his first bath and finally came off the oxygen. During this time, the staff at the hospital were amazing and we can't thank them enough for their care of Ethan and the support they gave to Dom and I. On 1st June we left the hospital with Ethan, now weighing a hefty 6lb 3oz, and took him home.
Ethan has gone from strength to strength over the last 18 months and is now a healthy toddler who runs all over the place. He has started to talk and is a happy, smiley little boy. There isn't a day that goes past that we don't think about what might have been if the neonatal unit had not been there, and so that is why we wanted to give something back - our small way of saying thank you.
Dom ran his first ever marathon on 6th December in Las Vegas. It was so cold when he started the run at 6am that the water was frozen in the cups at the water stations. He completed the 26.2 miles in 4 hours 19 minutes. A real achievement. At the moment he has no plans to run another!
Nottingham University Charity will pass all money we raise onto the QMC Neonatal Unit appeal.
