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On the 28th June I will be taking part in the Great Manchester Cycle, pedalling 52 miles. Then on the 4^th July I will take the plunge in the Great Manchester Swim, swimming 1 mile dock to dock in Salford Quay all with the aim to raise as much money as possible for Saint Mary’s.

My son Sam was born on 3rd June 2014 at Saint Mary’s Hospital, Manchester.  Early in the pregnancy my wife Becky was referred to Saint Mary’s due to suspected problems with the baby’s oesophagus. She was induced and labour was progressing well until half way through when the baby’s heart rate dropped considerably. Becky was rushed into theatre for an emergency c-section, I was scrubbed up ready to go in with her but what seemed like hours passed without knowing what was going on. Her previous caesarean scar had ruptured and the baby had turned completely and was breach. Becky started suffering from internal bleeding and her kidneys started to fail, she was immediately put into intensive care.

Sam was born with no heartbeat, it took 9 minutes for his heart to beat by itself, he had no oxygen circulating his tiny body for 20 minutes.

Luckily because of the fantastic facility we were in, the doctors managed to somehow save our son and kept him alive on a ventilator.  He was then sent to Newborn Intensive Care Unit and placed on a cooling machine to receive Hypothermia Therapy, to basically shut the body down and to allow the toxins from the brain damage to be released without causing more problems.  Not many hospitals have this equipment and if it wasn’t for this, and the brilliant work from the staff, the story could have been completely different. I find it hard to put into words as to how thankful I am for what this magnificent place did for me and my family.

Sam is now one and doing really well, Bec has also made a full recovery. I now plans to fundraise for the Newborn Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Saint Mary’s to say thank you for saving the lives of my wife and son.

I plan to do fundraisers over the next few years, starting with these events, to try and pay back as much as I can although no amount of money will ever match what they have done for me.

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