On the 11th of January 2026, Layla was taken into A&E as Simon picked her up for a cuddle and noticed she was freezing cold, we took her temperature and it was 34.5. We called the maternity line as Layla was only 5 days old and they told us to take her to A&E immediately. Simon rushed to the hospital with her where the doctors saw her instantly and she had many tests, MRI’s, lumbar punctures and scans when they told us they were treated her for sepsis. She was admitted to Paddington ward where she was looked after fantastic doctors and nurses, Simon and I took it in turns to stay with Layla in the hospital, whilst we were there we noticed how caring and loving all the staff were towards us, Layla and Robbie. Layla spent 5 long days fighting sepsis at only 5 days old,.

We have had two children now admitted to the children’s ward at Northampton General as Robbie was in special care from birth as he was 6 weeks early and was born with respiratory distress syndrome. The nurses, doctors and all the staff at Northampton General have been excellent so we wanted to do something to raise money for the wards to provide toys and resources for all the other children and families.