During Beau's 24-hour midwife check, a heart murmur was detected. After a lot of back and forth in and out of NICU, 72-hours later he was diagnosed with three congenital heart defects. Two of which were so rare, the Dr had only seen in a text book. 

We were transferred to Flamingo Ward at GOSH and were immediately given a plan of action. This didn't just include what would happen to Beau, they completely looked after us from accommodation to advice on financial and psychological support. Unfortunately, when Beau was six days old, we had the phonecall that no parent wants to receive and were called in on a Saturday evening. He was not getting oxygen across his body and without emergency surgery he would have died. An expert team were called in that Saturday night and saved his life. 

Within a fortnight, he had recovered enough to receive his planned 8-hour open-heart surgery. Six weeks after we returned home, we were back again, when a virus led to Beau getting a severe wound infection. He just about avoided another surgery and we were sent home for a six-week programme of antibiotics whilst staying at our local hospital and overseen by GOSH. 

At six months old, Beau had his third open-heart surgery for a fourth congenital heart defect. Amazingly, he was home just 5-days after this major surgery. 

Without GOSH, Beau would not be here. 

From the world-class surgical team that performed highly skilled operations. To the intensive care nurses whose dedication, care and positivity saved our mental health, the psychologist, the chaplain, the parent liaison team, the accommodation and the nurses on Bear ward who were surrogate midwifes and helped me reconnect with my baby and give me the confidence that I could look after him. 

It really was a team effort and we, as a team, want to give back to them. I remember a nurse telling me that the parents play a crucial role in the critical care team. We want to help other parents, like us, get the support they need when they have a baby in critical care.