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As many of you know, our boy Fred decided that he wouldn't wait for his official due date and took upon himself to introduce himself to the world ten weeks earlier than planned.

Although his birth was a joyous occasion for us, it didn't change the fact that Fred was born a very poorly little man.  At birth he was unable to breath and had to be resuscitated and subsequently ventilated.  Early attempts to take him off the ventilator failed and because of this he was had to be transferred to The Rosie Hospital (attached to Addenbrooke's in Cambridge)

Whilst in Cambridge, further attempts were made to move him off the ventilator (including one by Fred himself which he did by pulling out the breathing tube!) but they were unsuccessful.  He had many incidents where he would stop breathing, causing his heart rate and oxygen levels to drop dangerously low.  On more than one occasion he turned bright blue needing emergency treatment.

Whilst he was at Cambridge he was also diagnosed with Myotonic Dystrophy, which complicated matters even further.

As you can imagine this was an incredibly distressing and intense time for us.  No words can describe the dread, panic and worry we were feeling.

During his stay at The Rosie we were fortunate enough to have the unwavering support of The Sick Children's Trust.  Not only did they provide us with amazing accommodation minutes away from Fred, the staff were on hand with incredible support, advice and plenty of tissues for Hanna.  Nothing was too much trouble for the wonderful staff. They always took the time to ask how Fred was and they also helped to arrange follow up care for Hanna after her emergency caesarean (Hanna came straight to The Rosie from Basildon Hospital the day after Fred was born) Abi, Olena and Helen were key in helping to understand what our little boy was going through and showed genuine compassion when we needed it the most.   Due to how sick Fred was, The Sick Children's Trust gave us this magnificent assistance for Fred's entire six week stay at The Rosie.

I cannot stress enough, without this incredibly generous help, this whole experience would have been made one hundred times worse for us and we would have easily been overwhelmed by the roller coaster ride that has been Fred's life to date. 

This fantastic charity receives NO OFFICAL FUNDING at all, it operates and relies on the kind donations made to it.

This is where you come in.  We want to help The Sick Children's Trust continue their excellent work so that they can help other families that find themselves in a similar situation to us.  If you can afford it, please donate what you can, even if it's just a couple of pounds so that this amazing charity can continue to do what they do so well and that is help families in need at incredibly difficult times.

You or someone else you know may need them one day.

Forever thankful

Ian, Hanna and Fred

P.S - Fred is back at Basildon, he still has long way to go and it will be a while before we can bring him home but he is improving day by day and slowly but surely moving in the right direction.

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