In July 2013 our baby daughter Nancy was born by emergency C section following a placenta abruption. Having been on course for a seemingly straight forward birth our baby’s life line was suddenly ripped away from her. Starved of oxygen for around 20 minutes she was born lifeless; pale, floppy and not breathing. 

Up until recently the only option for Nancy would have been to wait and see; monitor her development and hope for the best.  Nancy however was lucky. Within a few hours of birth she was transferred to Wolverhampton New Cross Hospital and underwent some amazing treatment called ‘Cooling’, or therapeutic hypothermia.  Nancy’s core body temperature was cooled down for 72 hours and then slowly rewarmed over a couple of days as research shows that cooling the body temperature of babies within 6 hours of birth leads to a significant number of babies showing normal development at 18 months, who would have otherwise have developed brain injury.

Now 18 months on Nancy is a happy little girl, bright as a button and showing no signs of any difficulties that are associated with the trauma she suffered at birth.

The cooling treatment Nancy received requires specialised expertise and is only possible in the large intensive care units. Babies born in other hospitals must not only be transferred to one of the cooling hospitals to benefit from this expertise but 'cooled' within a small 6 hour window from birth to avoid further complications including brain damage and this is where my appeal comes in.

The appeal:

CenTre Neonatal Transport is the service that moves sick and premature babies for 14 neonatal units in the Midlands. Between April 2010 and December 2013 CenTre moved 165 babies needing cooling treatment. But despite therapeutic hypothermia being so important there are currently no cooling machines in these neonatal ambulances.

For babies that need cooling the first six hours of life are critical. This is the window of opportunity to start the treatment before further delayed damage occurs in the brain. By providing cooling on the move, CenTre Neonatal Transport will ensure that all babies, wherever they are born, can benefit from cooling if needed.

This appeal is to equip CenTre Neonatal Transport with cooling equipment so that babies can benefit from cooling before, and during transfer to their specialist intensive care units.

All money raised in my appeal will go directly to the CenTre 'Little Lives Big Journeys' appeal which aims to raise £60,000 and equip two neonatal ambulances with cooling machines and cooling equipment. 

To read more about cooling visit http://www.action.org.uk/touching-lives/october-2010/cooling-impact

 

http://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2014-07-10-cooling-oxygen-deprived-newborns-reduces-chances-brain-damage

The challenge!

My aim is to raise £6000 towards this total figure. To try and raise this huge amount I have taken on a series of challenges. Having now completed 'Total Warrior' in the Lakes and 'Man Vs Mountain' in Snowdonia my next challenge is the Northumberland Coastal Marathon; a 28 mile trail run over sand dunes!

I wanted to take on this ludicrously difficult challenge to show my commitment to raising the money.  Now please help me help the lives of other Midland families that require this fantastic service and help bring awareness of therapeutic hypothermia to ensure further funding is secured.

Thank you for taking the time to read my story.  Any donation is gratefully appreciated.

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