Two events occurred in 2006 that changed our lives. Steve's twins were born 10 weeks prematurely and spent 2 months at Homerton Hospital neonatal unit. Pete's 4 year old son Finn was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukeamia and is currently being treated at Great Ormond Street hospital and The Whittington hospital on a shared care basis. We want to give something back to the people that saved the twins lives and are working to save Finn's life. As we are both keen cyclists we have organised a charity cycle ride, the proceeds to be split between our chosen charities. We have already received fantastic support from our friends, many of whom have agreed to join us cycling the Coast to Coast route from Whitehaven to Sunderland on 13 June 2007. Tabitha and Zoe's Story... My twins Tabitha and Zoe were born prematurely and spent 2 months in the neonatal unit at Homerton Hospital. Zoe stopped growing in the womb at 26 weeks and we were told the babies would have to be delivered early or she would not survive. We spent an agonising 4 weeks going for scans and waking up every day wondering if today was the day we would meet our babies. Zoe proved an amazing little fighter and hung in there for us. The babies were delivered at 30 weeks, Zoe weighing just over 2lbs and Tabitha just over 3lbs. It was upsetting to see our babies for the first time in the neonatal unit. They were in incubators, covered in wires and hooked up to various alarms. They seemed impossibly small and had no fingernails, eyelashes or cartilage to keep their ears upright. Premature babies can have so many complications and we began a rollercoaster of a journey, never knowing what we would find from day to day. There were terrible lows, the worst when Tabitha's lung collapsed and we received a phonecall at 5am to say they had nearly lost her in the night. Then amazing highs - like the day we came in to find the babies had 'graduated' into cots and we could cuddle them for the first time, without the help of a nurse. We are so grateful to the staff at Homerton neonatal unit for helping our twins and would like to give something back. The hospital is currently fundraising to help improve facilities within the transitional care section of the Special Care Baby Unit. My wife 'roomed in' here with our girls before taking them home. The unit is small and cramped with up to 6 mothers and their babies sharing a room which wasn't exactly conducive to a restful nights sleep! With your help we can raise money to help them improve this facility. Click here to donate to Pete's charity 'The Whittington'
