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Closed 12/04/2018

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£635
raised of £10,000 target by 19 supporters

    Weʼve raised £635 to Buy an air ventilator for the Neonatal clinic at St Helier Hospital

    Banstead, Surrey, UK
    Funded on Thursday, 12th April 2018

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    Story

    Join us to help save the lives of thousands of premature babies!

    After a year of living on emotional tender hooks, 100+ trips to the hospital and 3 ambulance rides, I’m so grateful our family is all here safe and sound!

    My wife and I will remember 2017 as being the year of over 100 trips to the hospital during and after our troublesome pregnancy. Thankfully, our little daughter who was born 2 months prematurely is safely with us after a few ‘scares’. But, in each of the 3 different occasions, it could have turned out much worse if it wasn’t for the phenomenal staff and facilities at St. Helier Hospital (and Epsom and Evelina London Hospitals)…

    It’s going through this rollercoaster ride of a year which have inspired my wife and I to support the Neonatal Unit of St. Helier Hospital (again) to buy an air ventilator that saved my daughter’s life.

    Here’s the short version of our story….

    - We fell pregnant in early 2017, however, with a tear in my wife’s (Alma) amniotic sac and a clot in the placental tube this caused constant and confusing fluid loss throughout the entire pregnancy. On top of the numerous rushed trips to the hospital we required weekly check ups with one of the UK’s top obstetricians at Epsom Hospital.

    - Then, my daughter (Nikita) was born 2 months premature and spent the first 4.5 weeks of her life in hospital. The Neonatal clinic was raising money to buy an air ventilator, so we helped them raise £3,000+.

    - At 10 weeks old Nikita fell ill with the RSV virus, caught bronchiolitis and then double pneumonia and she spent 10 days in Paediatric Intensive Care Unit. The machine that saved her life was an air ventilator.

    Hence, we’re now inspired to raise the full funds (£10,000) to buy an air ventilator that we know how critical this bit of kit is.

    If you’re after the full length version...

    (which we’re providing because as we went through this journey it was incredibly helpful hearing success stories of others, plus we want to sing and dance about how great the NHS is) I’d like to invite you to read on…

    In Feb 2017, we found out we were pregnant with our second daughter. This was fantastic news (as we were given less than 5% chance of conceiving naturally, so we were chuffed with doing this twice), however, the pregnancy was incredibly testing for two reasons…

    1. My wife had a tear at the top of the amniotic sac

    2. She also had a clot in the placental tube

    So, for both of these reasons from week 6 into the pregnancy until she was born, we were forever running back and forth to the hospital thinking the leaks would be causing harm to our unborn child. As our bub (now called Nikita) grew bigger there was less space, which meant more fluid loss. The worst was in the evenings when Alma would lie down as the tear was at the top of her sac, so this would exacerbate the fluid loss.

    We lost count how many times we were back and forth from Epsom hospital holding intentions for the best outcome, not allowing yourself to consider anything else. This was often troublesome with managing our first child who was under 12 months when this started. Thankfully we have the most amazing neighbours who would help out at the drop of a hat.

    We came to understand that having your child born from 26-28 weeks (full term babies are 40 weeks) on seems to have a higher percentage of healthy outcomes. When we were facing this prospect at 20, then 22 and 24 weeks this was not something you want to consider. It becomes a day-by-day management of emotions. Once we broke through the 26 and then 28 week barrier we were ready but still hopeful of cracking into the 30’s.

    Throughout this entire period, the staff and specialists at the Maternity Ward of Epsom Hospital provided phenomenal care and attention!

    So, after Alma’s return home from another multi-day stint in hospital after fluid loss, when Nikita was 31 weeks, she decided it was time to meet her parents and say hello to the world. Just like her parents she couldn’t wait to get started!

    At this stage, she was just 1.36kgs (3lbs) and required 24/7 care in the Neonatal unit of St Helier’s hospital and was in an incubator for 2 weeks.

    We were only allowed to hold her after 4 days and until she left, only Mum and Dad were able to hold her.

    After 4.5 weeks of constant trips to and forth from the hospital, we were finally able to bring our gorgeous girl home.

    PIC

    During this time, we noticed that the Neonatal clinic at St. Helier was raising funds to buy an air ventilator, which supports the prem bubs to breathe when they’re born. So, we decided to support their cause and help as we were so grateful for the world class treatment we had received, (here’s a link to the 1st campaign https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/marsn-clark).

    Within a couple months we raised over £3,000 to buy an air ventilator that was just over the exact amount they needed to complete the purchase of the piece of kit – success!

    As it turns out, this was a very fortunate turn of fate…

    Shortly after Nikita came home, she was struck with the RSV virus, which caused bronchiolitis, and within days developed into full blown pneumonia. We found ourselves back at St Helier Hospital, this time in the Queen Mary’s children’s ward where we were hopeful Nikita would recover through the supported breathing defibrillator…

    However, her right lung became full of fluid and we were raced to the Evelina London Hospital in Westminster for our 3rd ambulance trip of the year.

    As soon as she arrived we knew we were in safe hands. This was the ‘Premier League’ when it comes to handling the RSV virus and pneumonia. We learned then that November 2017 was the worst month in history for this virus. So much so that St. George’s hospital down the road had 60 admissions in just one hour!

    As it turned out… The piece of equipment that was required to regulate Nikita’s breathing was an air ventilator!

    We can only deem this as fortunate twist of fate on our behalf.

    This ended up being a 10 day stint in the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit, where Nikita had a dedicated nurse 24/7 to look after her. The first few nights I was shuttling back and forth whist Alma was by Nikita’s side. Thankfully my Mum-In-Law was over and able to help out with looking after our first little one. We would have been lost without her.

    For the second half of the journey we were gratefully put up at the Ronald McDonald House which was a 5 minute walk from the hospital. This allowed all of our family to stay together until Nikita was given a clean bill of health. This service is amazing. In times of need like this, it was so helpful being able to have our family together. For people going through more advanced conditions it is critical.

    Although from one perspective this has been the most emotionally challenging year of our lives, from the other side, it has given us a perspective on the value of life and allowed us to see what’s truly important. This is a lesson that neither Alma nor I will ever forget and we’re committed to remembering this lesson so that it serves us to serve others.

    For this reason, we’re incredibly passionate and inspired to support the Neonatal Unit of St Helier to raise funds to buy another air ventilator as our next cause. Once we’ve reached this goal, we’ll be singing, dancing and making more noise for other causes that deserve just attention.

    So, thank you for taking the time to hear our story, I hope there’s some lesson or insight that you can take and apply to your life. And, if you’re inspired enough to part with some of your funds to play a role in saving thousands of lives of premature babies, then thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

    The staff in the various hospitals I’ve mentioned are absolutely world-class with what they do and with your contribution to pieces of equipment like this, it means they can perform super hero acts on a daily basis!

    Updates

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    Michael Clark

    Updates appear here

      6 years ago

      Michael Clark started crowdfunding

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      Page last updated on: 4/7/2018 08.02

      Supporters

      19

      • Charney Magri

        Charney Magri

        Apr 7, 2018

        £20.00

      • Mandie Davis

        Mandie Davis

        Apr 3, 2018

        So sorry to hear all that you have been through.

        £20.00

      • David Wilson

        David Wilson

        Apr 3, 2018

        Try Again

        £20.00

      • James  Richards

        James Richards

        Mar 31, 2018

        A wonderful cause

        £20.00

      • Emma Cox

        Emma Cox

        Mar 31, 2018

        A great cause

        £20.00

      • Rebecca Randall

        Rebecca Randall

        Mar 30, 2018

        Fantastic cause Michael and so glad it worked out for you.

        £20.00

      • Anonymous

        Anonymous

        Mar 18, 2018

        From various Strategy Session clients

        £80.00

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      About the fundraiser
      Michael Clark

      Michael Clark

      Banstead, Surrey, UK

      A super grateful father who wants to show his appreciation to the world class service, people and facilities that is the NHS!

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