My son, Sam, was born at 4am on the 10th July 2007.  He was suffering from chronic pneumonia, collapsed lungs and severe blood poisoning.  He was immediately moved from Kingston Hospital to a specialist unit at St George’s in Tooting.  They did everything they could for him but were unable to stop his rapid decline as his lungs couldn’t process enough oxygen and he was too weak to fight the infection.  On the recommendation of the medical team we had him christened at 1am on the 12th July as he was not expected to survive the night.

The following morning he was still fighting and we were given the news that Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) could take him.  Within 2 hours a team from the Children’s Acute Transport Service (CATS) arrived to take Sam.  They were awesome.  It took them 2 hours to move him into a mobile intensive care unit (it needed 8 people to lift Sam and all his wires and tubes!) and Sam went to GOSH.  While in transit the doctors reckoned that Sam showed some signs of stabilising which was the first positive news we had heard since his birth.

GOSH is an incredible place.  Sam was there for ECMO treatment – effectively a total heart / lung bypass that enables the organs to focus their energy on getting well rather than working.  At one point there was a queue of specialists waiting to assess Sam (x-rays, brain scans, blood tests – everything) and he started to respond to his new ventilator, so the ECMO treatment was constantly moved back hour by hour until late on 13th July (my wife Zoe’s birthday) it was decided he probably wouldn’t need to risk going on ECMO.

From that moment on Sam began his recovery. 

To celebrate Sam's first birthday, Drew and I are going to walk 145km, coast to coast across the north of England, following Hadrian's Wall.  We aim to raise as much money as possible to help GOSH provide the support and services needed by so many young children and families who are battling life threatening illnesses. 

Please sponsor us.