When Reuben entered the world 14 weeks early after an Incredibly difficult birth, feet first & stuck for nearly 10 minutes, we knew his journey was going to continue to be difficult.

He was absolutely perfect, more hair than his daddy & weighed nearly 2lb.

Within the 6 hours of life he had a seizure & then they found multiple brain bleeds.

Despite all this he continued to fight, breathing around his ventilation, pulling on his many many lines & opening his eyes.

He fought hard for 11 days before his little body started to have problems & those mountains became just too big for him to climb.

The NICU at James cook were beyond amazing every single step of the way & made this journey just that little bit easier.

For those 11 days we loved you like we always will our little baby Roo🩵

We will walk from the doors of the neonatal unit to Spennymoor town football club to ensure your legacy lives on!

The majority of the 5,600 babies who are born in our trust every year are well and can go home relatively quickly with no problems. Some however, are born early or sick and we need the services of our neonatal department.

The Neonatal Unit at James Cook Hospital includes intensive care and high dependency facilities and is where we care for sick and premature infants. We have ten intensive care/high dependency cots and a number of special care cots and carry out various forms of respiratory support and other intensive therapies including infant cooling.

We have around 400 admissions each year, so it is a busy unit.

Donations to the Neonatal Unit support the many babies and their families who come to our hospital for treatment and care, making their experience the best it possibly can be.

Donations also help us pay for the little things that make a big difference to our babies and their families.