Thanks for taking the time to visit our JustGiving page.

My son Avan was born on the 22nd January 2017, at 23 weeks gestation weighing a tiny 1lb 4oz (580g). His journey into this world actually began on Christmas Eve 2016, the night that my partner Amy’s waters broke – out of the blue. The initial shock was terrifying and the unknown was equally daunting. She was only 19 weeks pregnant. We waited in limbo until our 20 week scan, the day before New Years Eve, which confirmed our worst fears Amy's waters had infant gone.  From this moment, we had several meetings and scans per week with consultants at the RVI Hospital in Newcastle. We were told that the possibility of a surviving baby was 1-2 chances in 10. Aftergoing through every possible scenario and asking what felt like a thousand questions, then asking them again to try and make sense of what was happening, we found ourselves in the middle of January. Starting to feel confident that the baby had decided to hang around for now. As each day went by, the chances of him surviving would theoretically increase.

21st January 2017 – Our daughters 3rd birthday. Note – try not to have children in January, it’s too close to Christmas and will cost you an absolute fortune. With that aside, we threw our daughter’s birthday party the next day and had great time, in fact it was unforgettable considering Amy started to have pains that we thought were Braxton Hicks. After the party we went up to hospital as a precaution, where we were told that Amy had entered early stages of labour and there was no stopping the boy now!! Back to our thousand questions and the unknown. 23:46hrs, he was born – the tiniest human I have ever had the pleasure of seeing. Being born at this stage in pregnancy, babies are generally given a 50-50 chance of survival however considering Amy's waters had broke 4 weeks earlier the chances of survival was even slimmer. But our boy entered this world kicking and in that moment we knew he was determined and sticking with us. He was then whisked away to the Special Care Baby Unit (SCBU). Amazing, emotional, relieved, lost for words –now two birthdays in January – a day apart and just after Christmas. When one turns 18, the other turns 21 – great!! And, I wouldn’t change it for the world!

Since the drama of Christmas, New Year and Birthdays I would like to say that life slowed down for us, but no, in actual fact it ramped up, we had only embarked the rollercoaster and had no idea when we’d get off.

Avan’s first two weeks were petrifying, but when we look back they were actually the calmest. His new home was a humidified Incubator and he was on a ventilatior which was breathing for him. His skin was paper thin and his eyes were still fused shut. We slowly began to get to grips with changing the tiniest nappies known to man and caring for our miniature miracle. By 2 weeks old he slowly started to peel his eyes open and things were looking good. 

Then the third week, things took a turn for the worse when he caught an infection called Nectorizing Enterocolitis (NEC). This infection attacks the bowels of premature babies. We spent days through to weeks not knowing if the goodnight kiss we gave him that night, was his last. He underwent several operations to battle this infection, again not knowing whether he would return to us. But our brave resilient little soldier never once gave up. NEC has brought with it several other complications in which Avan contracted Sepsis, his liver was failing, he could no longer feed normally and he now requires his nutrition to be delivered by IV into his blood. However, hopefully his latest operation, which was on the 25th April 2017 will mean that he can slowly start to tolerate some food. 

Laser eye treatment was his next adventure, which can be common in premature babies. This is done to tackle Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) – basically to prevent blindness. This was a success but it is likely that our little fella will need some cool little baby specs in the not too distant future.

Amongst all the chaos, Avan has come through everything thrown at him so far and the word ‘proud’ doesn’t quite cut it. As I write this, he is almost 7 months old, 3 months corrected. He is now 11lb 9ozs and looks like he could take on the world. We have currently set up base camp in Ward 1A at the Great North Children's hospiital where Avan continues to fight every day to get home - and every day and every night we fight with him, never giving up.

This back story leads me on to our chosen
charity – Tiny Lives. A charity that supports premature and sick newborn babies
and their families on the Neonatal Unit at the RVI hospital in Newcastle upon Tyne. Without this support I don’t know how families like us, would get through a situation like this. Funds raised for Tiny Lives allows this incredible charity to provide developmental care aids and equipment, such as baby nests, sleep shades, memory boxes, journals, and milestone indicators to record even the hardest days. Family rooms, accommodation, parking permits and research grants are just a few of the facilities in place to assist families throughout their time on the neonatal unit. The ward is equipped with impeccably trained nurses, physiotherapists, social workers and psychologists all of which provide infallible support. It’s a personal honour to compete in this year’s Great North Run, to give a little back to a charity that gives so much.

Thank you for taking the time to read our sons little story and I hope that you can give as much or as little as possible for this wonderful charity.