We were ecstatic to find out we were expecting three days after celebrating our first wedding anniversary In June 2019, but that excitement soon turned to fear at our 20 week scan where we discovered Cohan had a bleed on his brain & he was a very poorly baby.

On the 11th of November 2019 at 5:30 PM our Son was born. He was 15 weeks early and weighed 1lb 3oz. He was taken to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit where they worked tirelessly to keep Cohan alive. He fought incredibly hard, for such a little person, his bravery & fight for life is truly admirable. Unfortunately on day 4 of life the fight became to difficult and our sweet boy passed away in our arms.

We made a promise to Cohan that day, that we would always speak his name, that we would tell his story, of how brave he was and keep his Memory Alive. That we would recognise those who work tirelessly with parents and families, before , during and after the birth and death of their baby. And that we would use our experience to help other bereaved parents.

We have found that people speak alot about the many charity's and organisations that specialise in stillbirth and neonatal death, but we rarely here of the unmeasurable support and care provided by the staff in the Neonatal Unit, so we wanted to take this opportunity to do it.

The staff of the Neonatal Unit (personally I see them as living Angels). Their job doesn't begin and end with caring for our sick babies.. it goes beyond!

It's calling a priest late at night to have your baby baptized when they've became so poorly, and ensuring that those people important to you and your baby are present and involved. On the night Cohan was baptized the two wonderful nurses lifted the top of the incubator up so that his brother and sister could touch him and talk to him. So that Cohan could feel their love for him! (This was the first time they had met their baby brother)

It's presenting your baby's siblings with gifts from their brother or sister. It's including them in every little part of this journey, ensuring they know how much their little brother or sister love them.

It's taking many photographs for families on the units camera and developing them. It's true what they say, you never know the true value of a photograph, until it's all you have left.

They gave us our own private room, to soak up every second with Cohan on the day we knew he would be passing, they allowed for our closest family members to come in and spend time with him, for his brother and sister to fuss over him, and do their hand prints together. They allowed us TIME and with that they have given us memories we will hold in our hearts forever.

And most importantly, in our journey it was recognizing that Cohan was no longer responding to the medication, and ensuring that he never passed away in an incubator, that he would pass away in his mummy and Daddys arms wrapped in so much love! They provided a bedroom that's part of the neonatal unit so that we could stay with Cohan until the next morning, otherwise we would have had to send Cohan to the cool room on his own and that would have been unbearable!

Cohan had two nurses in rotation, during the time he spent in NICU. Those ladies never left his side for a moment! So when I was unable to visit Cohan, I knew that he was never alone. They gave him the best of care and they made sure that he only ever knew love, they were his Mum when I wasn't there and I will never be able to thank those ladies for that.

Cohan taught us many things in the 4 days he was with us, from his courage & fight for life, and even in death, he still teaches us. One thing he taught us was never ever give up hope!! That one single thread of hope is still a very powerful thing, and we have seen the power of it when our Son was born breathing by himself at 15weeks early!! And that to always help another person, however you are able to. We know the unthinkable can happen to anyone, and if by taking our experience, trauma & heartache and using it to help other families who will unfortunately walk in our shoes, to have the resources & support available to them, that we hope will make this journey a little less heavy. Then we will have kept our promise to him & I hope, will have made him proud. This is the only way we can show our love for our Son, by helping other families, saying his name every day & sharing his legacy.

The staff of the neonatal provide outstanding care to our babies, and the same level of support to families, so please if you can spare something be assured it will go to a very special cause. We hope to raise as much of our target to provide the following and allow the wonderful staff to continue providing babies, parents and siblings with the best quality of care and support.

- Neonatal Incubator (Omnibed)

- A syringe driver for Medicinal delivery

- Humidifier for ventilator

- The upkeep of the two bedrooms provided for parents of babies who have passed away, so they can have that time together. These rooms are also provided for parents of NICU babies who live a long distance from the hospital, so that they can be close to their sick baby.

- Memory boxes.

- Books, bears and other keepsakes that the nurses kindly gift to your babys siblings.

- The purchase of clothes made specifically for babies weighing as little as 1lb.

- Resources for bereaved parents

Thank you for taking the time to read our story, and know your kindness is greatly appreciated. Xxx

Natalie & Daniel McNeill (Proud parents to Cohan Michael)