Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page. Did you know that almost one in 12 (7.8%) babies in the UK- about 60 000 are born before 37 weeks gestation. Rates of prematurity birth are raising  by about 1.5% a year in the UK. The survival of more extremely premature babies is a triumph of modern medicine .But for parents it can mean a long struggle for life and health and some agonising decisions. I have been personally traumatised and moved by our own experience in NICU and has made me want to come out and do my bit to help the little brave preemies and their parents in coping with the stress of fighting for survival. Our son Upenyu was born at 23 weeks and was in NICU for 117 days. He was given 30% chance of surviving. His rollercoaster journey through NICU meant that he was on and off the ventilator and succumbing to infections at times. At one point we thought we had lost him, and the doctors tried hard to revive him after he stopped  breathing. Today  Upenyu is 4 years old, fizzes with energy, likes dancing , plays tots rugby ,talks for England and is very popular in his class. It was a very emotional, sensitive and  stressful time trying to cope with a sick baby whilst continuing to provide for the family with no or very little support. You can imagine the cost of parking at the hospital over 117 days, the loss of income, the cost of child care on other siblings the list is endless.It is against this background, that you and me are going to change things for the better. No parent should go through our experience again. HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE ? l am doing my first ever gruesome triathlone- 400m pool swim, 21km rural road bike course and 5km road run- thats the biggest challenge l have ever done!! The money you donate today, will go to Shinetogether a Charity based at Southmead Hospital ,and will be chanelled to Southmead Hospital NICU.  It would help parents staying in the unit  looking after their sick babies, buy basics like nappies,clothes, parking tickets, milk etc needed for our brave little fighters. Parents struggling with the emotional stress of looking after their sick preemies can have the comfort of staying at the Unit without worrying about the cost of living. You and me can make a difference today, and save more babies like Upenyu.

Hope is not a dream but a way of making dreams become reality.  

Take a look at my video on YouTube:

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. So it’s the most efficient way to donate – saving time and cutting costs for the charity.