On 18th March 2018 I will be taking part in the Brentwood Half Marathon.

 I will be running this in memory of my close friends' brave baby boy, Henry, and to raise funds towards a new incubator at St Peter's NICU (Ashford & St Peter's Charitable Trust - Little Roo Neonatal Fund), who looked after Henry during his short life.

Please read their story below:

"My wife was admitted to hospital for bleeding, 16 hours later I got a call to say she was being taken down for an emergency c-section. I rushed to the hospital but had to wait for half an hour before I was told anything, watching staff rush in and out of the ward I had my suspicions something was very wrong.

The matron come out of the delivery room and said congratulations you've got 2 little boys, sorry but one is very sick and we don't know if he's going to make it. My two baby boys were then wheeled past me and taken to the NICU.

So what had happened to Henry? .... on Sunday 13th August a placental abruption had occurred meaning his placenta came away from him endangering both his and my wife's life, within 14 mins of the emergency cord being pulled he was delivered by emergency c-section, with my wife under general anaesthetic, at our local hospital. Henry was twin 1 born at 10.40pm and his brother Stanley (twin 2) was delivered 1 minute later aged 32 weeks and 6 days. Henry was starved of oxygen and therefore resuscitated for a whole 22 minutes when his heart started beating again for the first time, the resus team continued, he then took his first breath at 24 minutes old and was put on a life support ventilator. He had suffered severe brain damage and had a condition called HIE. In the recovery room I held my wife's hand as the consultant broke the devastating news to my wife that Henry may not survive and if he did he would never walk or talk and would have severe cerebral palsy.

Henry was blue lighted by ambulance (with me by his side) to a level 3 NICU at St.Peters Hospital in Chertsey, Surrey, miles away from our home. My wife arrived a day later and Stanley the following day both by ambulance. We had to be away from our 3 year old son Marley who was excitedly expecting his 2 baby twin brothers to come home.

The first 72 hours was the critical time when brain damage occurs and the treatment that can help with this is 'cooling' but sadly we learned that Henry was too premature to receive it. He was connected to a CFM and an EEG machine for brain activity monitoring and seizure monitoring. There were so many wires attached to him and I had to watch my poorly baby suffer two seizures. At one point a baby next to Henry received cooling and then made it to special care, my wife broke down, if only Henry could have had this.

The journey through NICU was a huge emotional rollercoaster, we never knew what was coming next, things could change drastically in an instance. Henry proved he was a fighter and there was hope as he breathed off the ventilator three times with additional breathing support, we felt so proud, sadly he developed pneumonia and a chest infection, he got tired breathing on his own he had to be re-ventilated. After the third time, the consultants met with us numerous times and broke the devastating news that Henry was not progressing neurologically, due to the brain damage he could not hold open or protect his own airway and his condition had deteriorated.

On the heartbreaking day of Wednesday 13th September 2017, aged just one month old, our miracle baby Henry passed away whilst held in the arms of both myself and my wife with his Stanley snuggled up next to him. A moment we shall never forget. R.I.P our beautiful baby boy, twin 1.

The staff at St.Peter's NICU are all amazingly supportive and caring. We could not have asked for better care for Henry or for ourselves, Stanley and Marley. We will be eternally grateful to each and every one of them for all they have done. We were lucky enough to be able to live in a parent room at the NICU funded by Little Roo Neonatal Charity, meaning we had more time with Henry to support him and make memories we shall treasure forever. Little Roo raise money to fund the essential equipment needed in the NICU to care for very sick babies. Each Neonatal Intensive Care Cot costs in the region of £80,000 to fully equip. Money raised also goes into investing in staff training, improving services and facilities for families. Therefore we are setting up this page in Henry's name to try and raise enough money to purchase an entire unit to help save future babies in need.

Please donate now to help Little Roos, however big or small your donation will help make a difference."

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