On May 28th a very eager little girl entered our big world. This little girl, Lyra, was so eager that she arrived three and a half months early at just 24 weeks old! Luckily her parents Tiggy (my mother's cousin) and her partner Tristan were in England at the time and not in Ghana where they live, and she was moved to Luton and Dunstable Hospital where they have a specialist Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

The L&D NICU treats over 500 babies a year from across Beds, Herts and Bucks. They also take babies from futher afield if they require specialist Intensive Care and there aren't any cots available closer. The existing unit has space for 20 cots but manages to squeeze in 29. Obviously this isn't ideal for the babies and it makes treating them more difficult for the staff. Despite the extra cots the Unit still has to turn away 20 requests for cots each month as NICU is completely full.

The new Unit will have space for 46 cots which will mean that more babies can be treated each month, fewer (ideally no) babies will have to be turned away and more tiny lives will be saved each year. They will also make space for essential parent accommodation where parents can be supported in learning how to care for their baby before taking them home.

The NHS have given £7 million to build the new NICU, but they need to raise £1.5 million to but the extra equipment needed for the new cots. This may sound like a huge amount of money for such small things but an average NICU cot with all the necessary equipment costs nearly £100,000 and to look after a baby for one night costs £1,250!

The NICU at Luton were really amazing with Lyra, and the wonderful unit and incredible nurses took such good care of Lyra and seemed to really see her as a little person rather than just another baby they had to look after. As a result Lyra flourished and soon began to put on weight, find her voice and before long was waving goodbye to the incubator and settling in to her new cot. On August 12th, just 11 weeks after entering this big world, a very small but determined Lyra left hospital and returned home a whole 5 weeks sooner than expected. She is certainly one eager and special little girl, and this has a huge amount to do with the NICU at Luton that did such an amazing job in looking after her in the vital early weeks.

As a result I have decided to put my dislike for running to one side and compete in the Great North Run 2008 on October 5th and try to raise as much money as possible for this very worthy cause.

Thank you so much for the support, every donation will go a long way to helping the new NICU treat more little babies like Lyra.

Thank you again for your generosity and I'll keep you posted on how it all goes.

Lots of love, Dom

Thanks for visiting my fundraising page www.justgiving.com/dominiclamb Donating through Justgiving is quick, easy and totally secure. It's also the most efficient way to sponsor me: The Luton and Dunstable Hospital Charitable Fund gets your money faster and, if you're a UK taxpayer, Justgiving makes sure 25% in Gift Aid, plus 3% supplement, are added to your donation.