a little bit about us,

My son was born prematurely at 24+4 weeks, weighing a tiny 435g in January 2024, his chance of survival was 30%, we knew we had a long journey ahead.

Jack was born by emergency c section at the John Radcliffe hospital in Oxford due to severe IUGR and sadly I developed pre eclampsia and HELLP syndrome.

We then proceeded to stay in intensive care for 82 days and Jack needing to be on breathing support machine for 64 days, these days were extremely hard, I remember thinking will he ever be able to breathe by himself .

In total we spent 164 days in special care baby unit, Jack along the way had endless blood transfusions, CLD, PDA, ROP eye injections, pneumonia twice, coronavirus, the list goes on…

Throughout these difficult days we had Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Easter, Father’s Day, SSNAP were there throughout our journey always managing to spread some happiness with meaningful gifts to help us along the way

SSNAP were there everyday to offer an ear to listen and support us on our journey, without them I cannot imagine how much harder our journey would have been, the work they do is unbelievably outstanding , they support us as parents, they support health professionals and raise funds for life saving equipment.

SSNAP support sick newborn, their parents and those that care for them; by providing emotional, medical, financial and informational support.

SSNAP was founded in 1982 and has supported the Newborn Care Unit at the John Radcliffe Hospital ever since. The unit can care for up to 56 babies at any one time and is a Level 3 Centre, the most sick and premature babies from across the Thames Valley, are looked after here in Oxford.