We can’t believe our little miracle is turning one in July so to mark this occasion we have decided that we want to give back to the people that were there for us and who supported us through the most challenging times as a family while she was in NICU.

To do this we have decided that as family we have set ourselves a challenge to walk from our home in Tavistock, Devon and make our way the 125 or so miles to St Michael’s hospital in Bristol where Mireya received fetal medicine treatment before birth and then intensive care treatment after birth for 7 weeks before being transferred back to Derriford hospital in Plymouth where she stayed for a further 3 weeks.

We will be sharing the walk between us and staying in our car when we can’t walk any more that day.

We’re not sure how long it will take us although we’d like to complete it within 4 days but as we are taking this challenge on as a family, including all 4 of our children as during Mireya’s time in Bristol the Cots for Tots charity provided us all with accommodation which meant the 3 older children could live with us just a stones throw from the hospital and Mireya and we could all be together as a family for the time she was there.

Last year we were overwhelmed with the help we had from people giving money to us so we are asking again to please help us but this time to help the charity help other families who find themselves in the situation we were in, away from home with a baby needing 24 hour medical care as well as using some of the money being used to purchase things that we found useful for us and feel it would benefit other families too while they are in the hospital.

If you’d like to read Mireya’s story of her difficult start, we have included the link which takes you to her story on the Cots for Tots charity website and you can see their write up about her.

https://www.grandappeal.org.uk/patient-stories/mireya/

Thank you so much

The Andrews family