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Eva's Story...

You may already be aware of our story and that of our twins. A wonderful young lady, Eva, the daughter of our close friends Amy and Jamie has spent the last three years growing her hair so that she can have it all chopped off to raise money for the Neo-natal units in Bradford and Leeds. These specialist services provide critical and life saving support to premature babies (full story below).

Eva will have around 16 inches of her hair cut off, this will be donated to The Little Princess Trust - in order to provide a real hair wig for another child who is undergoing treatment for cancer or another condition. Steph Greaves of The Hair Studio in Cullingworth has kindly agreed to cut Eva's hair for free on the 7 May 2020.

Eva is very nervous so any support you can give her will mean so much.

The Twins' Story...

The twins were born at 24 weeks in December 2017, they spent the first four weeks of their lives at Bradford Neo-Natal Unit.

The first pictures of the twins.

Lottie developed a Pneumothorax (hole in the lung) at about 9 hours old, she had various drains inserted into her right lung and over the following three weeks we were told on two occasions; Christmas Eve and New Years Day that the Doctors could do no more for her and that it was now up to her. The Consultants and nurses were wonderful, really supportive, involving us in all the decisions, the most difficult of all was having to talk about stopping active treatment. At this point she had not been held, she had never felt the love that comes from being held, we felt strongly that before any decision was made we wanted hold her , the risk here was that because she was so fragile that it may of been too much for her little body to cope with.

During this time, we were referred to forget-me-not a charity based in Huddersfield who look after and care for families with sick or dying children, they work closely with both Bradford and Leeds Hospitals. This was difficult for us as adults to understand, but our six year old daughter, who, having been so ecstatic upon hearing the news that she was to be a big sister, was about to lose her little sister before ever getting to know her, this was something we didn't know how to face or deal with. The councillors at Forget-me-not were brilliant with her, getting her to express her feelings and be able to talk about the experiences no child should have to go through. Through play, arts and crafts she was able to make worry dolls and a host of other things to enable her to express herself and manage these feelings.

In the end a consultant changed a drain in Lottie's chest and 6 hours later her mum held her for the first time, six hours later so did I, from 10PM until 4 in the morning we listened to music and I ate pizza with my tiny little girl on my chest. We did this for two nights, the morning after the second night and 27 days after being inserted, the drain from her lung stopped bubbling - the hole in her lung had finally closed.

At the same time Lottie was going through all this, Monte began to develop a discoloured tummy, initially there was no concern as he was feeding reasonably well through the tube directly into his stomach. The Doctor performed lots of tests and each time the tests were inconclusive but the discolouration didn't resolve. On another ultrasound exam it could be seen his bowel had perforated and he would require surgery - A trip to Leeds was on the Cards!

Meanwhile, as well as the pneumothorax Lottie was struggling to feed; at some point in weeks 2-4 she was diagnosed with NEC -Necrotising enterocolitis; basically a portion of her bowel was dying. This is a life threatening condition for which she would need surgery but at that point she was not strong enough to leave Bradford and make the journey to Leeds. We had to make the decision to separate them. The staff at the unit were magnificent and made the process so much easier.

Once the pneumothorax had resolved and she had gained enough strength Lottie to was transferred to Leeds. Monte's operation had been a success the surgeon described his intestines as congealed spaghetti, he was the first to get a stoma, two weeks later Lottie had the same treatment. We were now all at the Neo-Natal Unit in Leeds, where the Doctors and Nurses were just as supportive as the ones we left behind in Bradford.

Over the next three months at Leeds they both had minor blips; Monte had a collapsed lung then developed a hyper-inflated lung which pushed his heart into the other lung and prevented him from breathing. The risk here was that he could have developed a pneumothorax like his sister - thankfully this resolved within 24 hours. Lottie struggled continually with chemical imbalances, and they both required numerous blood transfusions. There were constant tests for every risk factor I could certainly think of and perhaps many others, at each step the whole team on the unit were supportive and took time to explain everything to us.

As we progressed towards the end of February things began to look better, the light at the end of the tunnel could be seen in the distance. We had our first photo as a family of five when the twins were about 10 weeks old.

The final hurdle was the reversal of the stoma that they had, had when they first got to Leeds, the surgical team were magnificent, taking the time to explain fully everything that was to happen. Because they didn't know what they would find when they got in to their tummy's, they couldn't say with any conviction what the outcome would be. Monte went first, NINE hours later after having all of his intestines taken out and put back in and delicately removed from his liver, he was taken back into the Intensive care unit - the operation had been a success and the best outcome in the circumstances, losing only 20cm of his bowel. Lottie had a short surgery in comparison; only four hours. Again her outcome couldn't have been any better - she didn't lose any of her bowel.

Within three weeks (three weeks after their original due date), they were ready to go home. On the 26 April 2018 they finally came home.

We are still at a loss about how to convey such gratitude to people who saved the lives of two of our children, thank you, somehow just doesn't seem enough. So, with the help of Eva, if we can raise some money to help the Units and forget-me-not to help other families who are in similar situations then that will go someway towards a debt that can never fully be repaid.

Your generosity is very much appreciated. Thank you.

Helping families to be close to their babies while in hospital.

Parents often have to travel long distances each day, sometimes for weeks or months at a time, just to visit their baby in hospital.
Many families stay in hotel rooms or sleep on a chair at their child's bedside. This leads to exhaustion and increasing levels of anxiety and stress. One of the aims of the Big Appeal is to extend the current family accommodation to ensure more parents can be near their babies. We want to make sure parents have comfortable places to stay overnight while they are close to their child. With a place to rest away from the ward, parents are better equipped to support their child.

How your donation can help

Our Neonatal Unit provides intensive treatment for pre-term and poorly babies. This is a specialist regional centre, caring for more than 500 of our tiniest patients each year. Your donations will help make this extension become a reality.