Thank you for visiting our JustGiving page in aid of The Early Birth Association.

In 2025, our son Freddie was born with a congenital condition called Long-Gap Oesophageal Atresia, which means his oesophagus (food pipe) ended blindly and did not meet his stomach, meaning he was unable to swallow. We were unaware of his condition until a traumatic delivery at 36 weeks where Freddie required resuscitation and critical care. Our boy spent the night in SCBU at the Conquest Hospital in Hastings before being transferred by a specialist Neonatal Ambulance to the Royal Sussex Hospital in Brighton, where he was cared for in the NICU in the Trevor Mann Baby Unit (TMBU).

Within his first 24hrs he underwent surgery to investigate the full extent of his condition and to insert a gastrostomy feeding tube directly into his stomach to allow feeding. He also had a tube inserted up his nose and into the oesophagus pouch to suction out his secretions, which was flushed by a nurse every 15 minutes!

After 8 weeks in the NICU/High-Dependency Unit, Freddie had major surgery to repair and connect the oesophagus to the stomach. Following this procedure, he was ventilated and put in temporary paralysis to enable to him to heal. Unfortunately, Freddie’s recovery period didn’t go to plan as he suffered a collapsed lung, a tear/leak in his newly repaired oesophagus, as well as several major and life-threatening infections, including sepsis.

Freddie fought with everything he had, the exceptional care and commitment of those working on the unit saved our sons life, he was monitored every second of every day until he made huge leaps forward to recovery, and after 80 days on the unit, he was finally discharged!

The Early Birth Association play a key a crucial role within the unit, providing items such as blankets, nursing pillows and milk warmers, snacks and drinks for the parent’s kitchen, to medical equipment and even a transport incubator! As parents who have seen and experienced the benefits of this incredible charity, we appreciate anything you are able to donate, it truly does make a huge difference in the most desperate of times.

Our team dubbed Freddie’s Fighters will be taking on numerous challenges up until his 2nd birthday in April 2027, these will include running events of various distances (including half and full marathons!), fun runs, walks, hikes and some other fun events!