Update 11-09-20

It seems like a lifetime ago now that Sully arrived in the world in May, as a lot has happened since then!
Happy to report that Sully is doing great and is a happy boy.
Soon after posting this page, he was able to wean off his oxygen and crack on with being healthy baby!
He's had many checkups since, which have been almost entirely positive.
I'd like to thank everyone who has donated so far. I'm blown away by the support and didn't think that we'd get anywhere close to this total!

Sullivan Earl Sykes was born at 00.37am on 17th May 2020 in Ipswich Hospital. With no prior warning of distress, on arrival in the outside world, his lungs weren’t able to take those first few breathes needed to inflate, and clear out any fluids. We'd later find out that a septic infection was almost certainly the cause of this. After initial help received from Ipswich, it became apparent to them that it’d be best for him to be transferred to the Norfolk & Norwich Hospital, where they were better equipped to care for his needs.

Sully was transferred to Norwich who worked to stabalise him over the new few days, allowing him to get over his infection. In order to do so, Sully relied upon being fully ventialated, having two sedatives, three antibiotics and other medications, making his quick recovery all the more remarkable. As you can imagine, the number of wires and machines beeping, make being on an neonatal intensive care unit quite stressful to begin with. I cannot give enough praise to the nurses and doctors who looked after Sully, and over the next week he improved bit by bit. Slowly lowering his oxygen requirements on the ventilator and bringing his infection rates down to a point where he could then be transferred back to Ipswich for the last stages of his recovery.

The support me and my wife were given blew us away. Every member of staff who looked after Sully was professional, friendly, calming and fantastic at their job. Me and my wife were able to stay in a room on the ward, thanks to funding and charitable donations. Everything was taken care of for us, from bags of toiletries to food and drink, meaning we were able to concentrate of spending time with our son and focusing on his recovery.

After a week back in Ipswich Hospital fighting a second wave of infection, we were finally able to get Sully home and to meet his big brother. He still relies upon a small amount of oxygen and will continue to do so over the next few weeks/months depending on how well he responds to being weaned off it. Once his lungs are at 100%, there shouldnít be any long lasting damage and we can look back on this period thinking about how lucky we were.

Me and my wife wanted to make sure that weíre able to give something back to those who have helped us, which is where I ask for your help in raising as much as possible.On Sunday 27th September, I'm proposing to bike from Ipswich Hospital to the Norfolk & Norwich Hospital. Please see the link below and donate as much as you are able. No amount is too small and every donation is greatly received. There is no target in place, I’d just like to raise as much as I'm able to.

Thank you for making it this far in reading Sully’s story and in advance for an donations given.