Story
Hi, I’m Casper! Thanks for taking the time to visit my Mum’s JustGiving page.
On 8 May 2020 at UCL Hospital, I arrived into the world, far too early. Mum was just over 24 weeks pregnant. We didn’t know what on earth lay ahead for me, and for our family.
Immediately after I was born, they had to put a breathing tube in and then connect me to a ventilator which I remained on for many weeks. When I was just one moth old and weighing 1.2 kgs (just over 2.5 lbs), I had an emergency transfer to Great Ormond Street Hospital forlife-saving surgery lasting three hours, that involved removing part of my intestine. I was still 12 weeks premature at the time. I had a second operation five days later. Two weeks after that, I returned back to UCLH (where I was born), and began my journey towards coming off the ventilator and onto the next stages of breathing support. In August I was moved to Homerton hospital, which is closest to my home. Around my due date, I was found to have an advanced case of Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP), an eye disease that occurs in a small number of babies born early. I had to have my breathing tube put back in because I needed emergency laser surgery to save my sight. Following this, I managed to pull out my breathing tube and caused one of my lungs to collapse, and I also developed sepsis. I was very sick at this time and caused everyone a lot of worry.
Throughout all of this, I was sedated, on muscle relaxants, opioids, steroids and pain relief. I was on insulin, ketamine, fentanyl and morphine, to name just some headliners. I had to have clonidine (a drug to help me wean off morphine) because I was on so much morphine for so long. I had about a dozen courses of antibiotics, two courses of steroids, numerous brain scans, x-rays and ultrasounds. I had about 30 cannulas in my hands, arms and feet. I had 7 blood transfusions and a plasma transfusion.
On 22 September 2020, after 137 days of NICU, I finally got to go home.
You can see a snapshot of my early months here:
Thanks to the absolutely wonderful people at three neonatal units across London, I was nursed to health, and I’m now a thriving, happy five-year old. I’ll be starting year 1 in primary school in September, and I love life, school, my family and my friends.
My Mum, at the ripe old age of 45, is going to run over 600 kms in training for her first ever full marathon in Dublin on 26 October 2025. She thinks Homerton’s neonatal unit deserves a big effort!
Not all hospitals receive the same level of funding, or have sophisticated and large fundraising teams. Homerton hospital took care of me for 6 weeks, and my Mummy would like to help them to have money for things they need, to say thank you for all that they did for me. We want to make life for the babies and parents on the unit as comfortable as possible.
Your funds will be used for things like:
Improving parent room facilities (making life on the unit a little more comfortable)
Improving breast milk pumping facilities for Mums
Apnoea monitors for the babies
Phototherapy units for the babies
Incubator covers
Thank you for any donation, small or large. Funds raised will be specifically designated to Homerton’s neonatal unit. All the consultants, doctors and nurses - and especially the babies - will be very grateful.
“The secret of getting ahead is getting started”
Mark Twain (and Casper)
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