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Our daughter Poppy Olivia was born prematurely at 29 weeks 1 day, arriving on the 22nd February 2011 and weighing 2lbs 10oz.  Since then she has faced many challenges and in the first five weeks of her life travelled to 4 different Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICU) around the London, Surrey and Avon areas for specialist treatment.  NICU is a service providing intensive, high dependency, and transitional care for premature and sick babies. They admit babies with a huge variety of problems, as well as babies of mothers who have had a very difficult delivery. Some also provide the specialist Neonatal Transport teams which Poppy has become familiar with on her travels to the different hospitals.  Until Poppy was born we had not been aware of Neonatal Intensive Care services, but one thing is for sure, she has received the best possible care to date. If it wasn’t for the wonderful, skilled, dedicated, caring and loving professionals that work within these units she would not be here today bringing us the joy she has already given. Whilst these units are an NHS service they benefit greatly from charitable donations. This helps ensure they are up to date with the latest equipment and training giving them the best possible chance of saving lives and creating a better future for families. To show our eternal thanks we would like to put back into this ongoing service by retracing Poppy’s journey and cycling the full route that Poppy has travelled between all her hospitals......a total of nearly 300 miles in3 days on 02/03/04 September 2011..... and if she has been released by the time of the ride we hope to be able to add an extra leg to the ride and finish her journey at home.   Bristol Southmead has a target of £5000. This is to help raise funds to create new family accommodation and a family area to take some quiet time to think and talk. This has absolutely zero chance of being NHS funded and yet is a critical aspect to life on NICU. Bristol are a center for specialist treatment and take babies like Poppy from all over the country so many families (such as ourselves..) do not have a home to go back to for some private downtime. All the staff are trained to the hilt about treating the family is just as important as treating the baby, and part of that is giving the families space and time to come to terms with whatever is happening with their baby on NICU. We would be very grateful if you would be willing to become part of Poppy’s journey and sponsor the team taking on the challenge..... led by Adam, Poppy’s father. The links to the other hospitals are here:  <a href="http://www.justgiving.com/PoppychallengeFrimleyPark" target="_blank">http://www.justgiving.com/PoppychallengeFrimleyPark</a>  <a href="http://www.justgiving.com/PoppychallengeStPeters/" target="_blank">http://www.justgiving.com/PoppychallengeStPeters/</a>  <a href="http://www.justgiving.com/PoppychallengeStThomas" target="_blank">http://www.justgiving.com/PoppychallengeStThomas</a>   You can of course choose where your money goes if you do have a preference. Can we also ask that you pass this link onto your family, friends and work colleagues to help us spread our message and achieve our grand total. If you would like an update on how the ride went and what your money went towards, then email <a href="mailto:caroline-and-adam@hotmail.co.uk">caroline-and-adam@hotmail.co.uk</a> inserting ‘The Poppy Challenge Update’ in the email title.   If you would prefer to donate using a cheque please send to:  The Poppy Challenge c/o Sue Hobbs NICU, Southmead Hospital Bristol, BS10 5NB And make cheques payable to: North Bristol NHS Trust (NICU) , write ‘The Poppy Challenge’ on the back of a cheque. If we can make a small difference to the work provided through these services and help other babies like Poppy then it will be worth every one of the 300 miles cycled to complete the Poppy Challenge.     Many thanks for your help in this cause <span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;">           Caroline, Adam and Poppy Dobson   Click <a href="http://www.nbt.nhs.uk/our_services/a_-_z_of_services/n/neonatal_intensive_care_unit/nicu_facilities.aspx" target="_blank">here</a> for more information on <a href="http://www.nbt.nhs.uk/our_services/a_-_z_of_services/n/neonatal_intensive_care_unit/nicu_facilities.aspx" target="_blank">Bristol Southmead NICU</a>   Please note that even though this donation goes into a central trust arrangements have been made to ensure that your donation is reaching the actual unit.      Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page. Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity. So please dig deep and donate now. .

The Poppy Challenge for Bristol Southmead NICU

The Poppy Challenge for Bristol Southmead NICU

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