Welcome to our Crowdfunding page!

I like to think that we are both private people Laura and I but we want people to know the reason for doing this. Its not for sympathy or anything like that, it is for us to give back to the doctors and nurses who did their very best each and everyday before ,during and after Grace's life. They are quite frankly the bravest and most amazing people we know and what they did for Grace and us we will never be able to repay them. We also want people to know about Grace and how much of a character she was and how unbelievably strong such a small person could be. More than anything we just want people to know that Grace was here and she made the biggest impact on not just our lives but many others. We are just so proud of what she did on a daily basis, how hard she fought and to have been her mum and dad.

October 2018 Laura and I found out we were expecting our first child. We were so excited about the future and the big push started to get the house ready for our new arrival. We dared to dream about the what if's, was it a boy or girl? who would they look like... We only told family and friends as we were not into big announcements.

We had the 20 week scan on the 5th of February, everything went well, baby was healthy and doing well. At that point we breathed a sigh of relive and began to relax... it was very short lived. Only 3 days later we found ourselves back at Crosshouse as Laura had noticed some bleeding. A scan of the baby's heartbeat settled us as it was normal however the doctor wanted to examine Laura just to be on the safe side. Very quickly things went from good to sheer panic, doctors and nurses rushed in.

For a reason we will never know the water's around the baby had slipped down, basically like a water ballon. We were told we would probably miscarry that night and to prepare for the worst, we were devastated. However Laura held on for nearly 4 weeks in a hospital bed never leaving the room, it was torture but for her but for our baby we would do anything.

At 24 weeks and 1 hour Laura's waters broke and she went into labour 48 hours labour. We were told the baby would have a 50/50 chance of survival. When she was born the doctors & nurses took her away to worked with our baby girl to support her breathing. Grace decided she wanted to be here and fought from there on out. Our baby Grace McConnell Dunlop was born weighing 809 grams (thats around 1lb 7oz). She was extremely feisty for such a small person and quickly became a character on the ward.

However due to her extreme prematurity her lungs were very poorly formed and as a result her lung collapsed within a few hours of being born. Grace required specialist help so we were transferred to the Queen Elizabeth Neonatal unit. After a good 3 weeks she surprised the staff there at how well she was doing and how very particular she like things done, she took everything in her stride fighting all the way, she was very settled.

However towards the 3-4 week mark she went down hill, her lungs not coping or growing as hoped, she also developed an infection which made her sick. We nearly lost her, but she fought back again and picked up.

She was growing and doing well, on full feeds and even had an attempt at coming off the ventilator onto something less invasive, we though this was it, we'd turned a corner.

The next 7-10 days she slowly became very very sick fighting another infection, a very serious sepsis and then her lung collapsed again! She had so much to fight and it must have became too much, by god she tried so hard to get better but her lung was so bad that infection had depleted the last drop of energy from her. Also, other procedures and medication had taken their toll and our strong, brave, beautiful baby girl who was so full of life and spirt. She passed away in her mothers arms on Monday 15th of April, she was 5 weeks and 5 days old.

A group of family and a few friends will be doing the National 3 peak Challenge on the 23rd June 2019 in Grace's Memory. All money raised will be split evenly between the Neonatal Units at Crosshouse and the Queen Elizabeth in Glasgow who cared for Grace.. This is a very poignant date for us as this is Grace's original due date.

If we can help a family or a baby in anyway by raising some money then we owe it to Grace and her memory to do what ever we can.

Thank you for you're support, it means the world to us.

David & Laura