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My name is Jazz and I have 4 beautiful children. My youngest, Rupert-James, is currently 9 months old. His journey with kingfisher, The children's ward at our local hospital, started when he was just 6 weeks old. I was at home with my children when I noticed that Rupert was blue in the face and not breathing. I immediately gave him 2 rescue breaths before calling 999, continuing with another 3 rescue breaths in between telling the operator our address. This time the rescue breaths were enough to bring my son back. Rupert was still grey/blue to look at so we were taken to A&E in the ambulance on blue lights and met by the most fantastic team of A&E staff and paediatric doctors. Lots of tests were conducted before we were taken up to kingfisher. I was treated with the upmost respect by the staff on the ward and was made to feel relaxed in an environment that can be incredibly overwhelming also coming to terms with the fact you have a poorly child. I was incredibly well informed as to what the staff were doing to Rupert and nothing was done without my knowledge. Unfortunately Rupert needed to be intubated and transferred to southampton to spend some time in the paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) so his tiny body could rest. On discharge from PICU Rupert was transferred back to kingfisher ward, where we were greeted by the fabulous team who made every effort to make sure Rupert was fit for full discharge home and made sure my emotional well-being was looked after. I thought this was the end of Ruperts journey. Unfortunately this wasn’t the case. One week later Rupert was back on kingfisher with Rupert started having ‘apneas’ where he would stop breathing between 10-30 seconds at a time whilst asleep but he would ‘recover’ by himself. These apneas stopped and after 4 days we were discharged home. Within a week these apneas started up again and got worse and within one hour he had completely stopped breathing again. This time rescue breaths weren’t quite enough to bring my boy back and I had to administer full CPR for 10 minutes. Same as before up to A&E we went and we were very lucky to be greeted by the same team as the previous time who new Rupert. Up on the ward the decision was made again for Rupert to be intubated and transferred back to PICU where more invasive tests were carried out to try and work out what was wrong with him. He had Lumber punctures, on lots of different medications to keep him as stable as possible, blood transfusions, head scans, MRIs, allsorts! On discharge from PICU and back to kingfisher Rupert stayed for a considerable amount of time where myself, Rupert and my 3 other children were very well looked after. Due to childcare issues I was back and forth from the ward juggling school runs, mealtimes, bedtimes, other appointments! The staff made sure we were fed, watered, myself emotionally looked after, even looking after my children so I could chat with the doctors and make sure I was retaining all of the information I needed too without distraction. The play team made sure my other children had plenty to do and had plenty of toys to play with! Ruperts apneas kept coming back and admissions to kingfisher becoming frequent. During all of these admissions myself and my children were very well looked after as I have said previously and this never ceased. During this time I got to know the staff well and them me, joking about booking a bed in for Rupert for when we would be in next! Our time on the ward was full of emotions, tears, laughter and plenty of chats. I could ring the ward whenever I wanted to when I couldn’t be with him to get an update. If anything was to happen out of the ordinary they rang me and kept me well in the loop. On discharge from kingfisher we were given a sats machine to keep an eye on Ruperts oxygen levels through any future apneas. I cannot put into words the gratitude I have for kingfisher ward and the incredible staff who make it a better place to be considering the circumstances, which is why I have decided to raise as much money as I possibly can by jumping out of a plane for a 60 second free fall at 15’000 feet for kingfisher!! The skydive is on 14th May 2023 with GOSKYDIVE in Salisbury. A donation would mean the world to myself and the ward, but also a share would be greatly appreciated to get the word out how amazing kingfisher is!! 

Thank you for reading my story :)

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