Thank you for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

The Trevor Mann Baby Unit (TMBU) is a specialist unit for the care of premature and sick newborn babies, at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton. It provides special care, high dependency care and intensive care. It also provides a service for babies requiring surgery. 

When I arrived in the world eight weeks earlier than expected, weighing 3lb 8oz the wonderful staff and volunteers at TMBU looked after me for 22 days, helping me to get strong enough so that I could leave hospital and go home with Mummy & Daddy. 

The EBA are a support group for the parents of the premature and sick babies requiring treatment at TMBU, they have all been in the same situation and understand the stress and pressure that families are feeling while their babies are in care. 

Life on the TMBU is very intense and sometimes scary, as well as fundraising to supply lifesaving equipment including resuscitation units, hot cots, cooling equipment and incubators the EBA also help the parents who have babies on the ward. Small touches such as keeping the cupboards stocked with complimentary tea, milk, bread and cereal in the family kitchen, having access to handmade clothes and blankets (especially made for tiny babies) and regularly finding a volunteer in the lounge area, with cake and a friendly ear, makes a big difference to all the Mummies and Daddies during the long days spent on the 14th floor. 

It costs £60,000 to equip just one intensive care cot & £120,000 to staff one cot for a year with specially trained staff. TMBU has 27 cots across three nurseries -intensive care, high dependency care & special care (I stayed in all three) and every year over 500 babies will stay in the unit.

We can't ever thank the staff and volunteers at TMBU enough for what they did for me and my family, so we're fundraising to show our endless gratitude.  If you were thinking of sending me a gift or if you are perhaps at a loss of what to buy someone this festive season, please consider donating here instead, so the TMBU team can give their amazing support to as many other babies as possible. 

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity. You can also add GiftAid which helps raise even more funds. 

Thank you. 

Lots of love 

Hettie 

xxxxxx