Thanks for taking the time to visit our JustGiving page in memory of our boy Ari who lost the battle for life on the 21st July after 2 months and 3 days spent in NICU.

Ari was born on 18th May 2022 at 24 weeks two days gestation, weighing only 660g. He was classed as a micro preemie. In the first few weeks of life he developed chronic lung disease, which is very common in premature babies. Ari spent the majority of his NICU stay on a ventilator, which helped him with breathing and essentially kept him alive. Ari had many medical problems such as PDA (a hole in his heart), acute kidney failure, infection, sepsis, and PVL (brain damage), among many others. The list just goes on…

Even though Ari faced so many challenges, he managed to surprise the medical team on three separate occasions where he’d turn the corner despite them not giving him much chance. He was a real fighter and went through a journey of numerous challenges.

Sadly, his last brain scan showed that all the collective difficulties he faced since birth were just too much for his little body. His brain ended up severely damaged. There was nothing else that the medical team could have done for him.

Tragically, we lost the battle for Ari’s life.

On the 21st of July, after two months and three days spent in NICU, our baby boy Ari went to sleep for the last time.

After getting the worst news of our lives we decided we wanted to spend the last days with Ari making memories, taking pictures and videos, listening to our favourite music, reading him stories, and having lots and lots of cuddles. A volunteer worker in the NICU went above and beyond by offering us a photo session.

NICU staff helped us create some precious memories with Ari. We created castings of our hands holding Ari’s and another one of Ari’s feet which we will be able to keep & treasure forever.

We loved spending every single day with Ari from the moment he was born. Where possible we’d visit him every single day, either together or separately, depending on the circumstances.

We decorated Ari’s bed space so it felt a bit more like home. We hung family photos, cards from friends & family, drawings & other special items. However, the time in NICU was stressful and worrying. Getting to be there with Ari, reading him books & having cuddles with him made it so special & that little bit easier to cope with. Ari was and still is surrounded by so much love.

We want to raise funds in memory of Ari so that we can support families going through the NICU, buy books for each cot in the NICU, Hand Casting Kits so that other parents who sadly lose their babies can do what we we did and cherish those castings forever.

We are devastated as parents that we couldn’t take our boy home, but he will forever be in our hearts.

Any donation you make will go towards helping families in need of support and creating precious moments with their babies to remember forever.

Thank you so much for reading this

Aggie, Oggi, and Ivani