I'm raising money for the Keep Me Close Appeal by joining in with their skydive event where I will jump out of a plane at 15000ft. This amazing charity helps keep families together by providing accomodation close to Derriford hospital free of charge, to provide easy and close contact for parents without the financial burden of having to travel or stay in hotels etc. This is so that they can focus and be near their sick or premature babies. As many of you know this charity is extremely personal to me. 

Back in 2016 I gave birth to my beautiful daughter Nuala at 25 weeks pregnant. (100 days early) She weighed 840g, her skin was see through, her heart duct hadn't closed properly and her lungs were underdeveloped. Although the local hospital did everything they could they did not have the resources to help Nuala at that time and so she was taken  by ambulance to Derriford hospital in Plymouth at 8 hours old. Nuala ended up staying in Derriford Neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) for 5 weeks before being transferred to Exeter.

Our time in the NICU was completely overwhelming especially as a 16 year old. The hospital has a small number of rooms for parents to be able to stay in to be close to your baby but as there are only a handful of rooms avaliable your stay is very limited to give opportunity to new incoming families. This charity was able to provide us accomodation in a near by facility free of charge so that we were able to be with our baby anytime in the day or night as she grew strong enough for transfer. Not only did they provide accomodation which took off so much stress of having to leave my baby and having to worry about costs etc They also provided emotional support and resources to make sure we both had the best possible start to our lives together. 

The Keep Me Close Appeal opened a home-from-home on 15 November 2019 for the families of babies who are in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Derriford Hospital.It is nearby, it provides families seven en-suite bedrooms, with a fully functioning kitchen, comfortable communal area and access to laundry facilities. To date (June 2020) they have been able to give 22 families 680 nights of accommodation at no additional cost to them or the hospital. We need to keep this going.They need £70,000 per year, or just £33/night/bedroom* to allow peace of mind to parents who are under extreme stress. Thank you for being involved.*(based on full occupancy)