Jack was so very wanted. We found out that we were expecting during a weekend trip away in January 2022 and excitedly walked for hours around the Peak District looking forward to what our next chapter looked like. We couldn’t believe our luck that this was happening to us - our family was growing, our first baby was due 1 October 2022. In April, we found out we were having a boy and we picked his name very soon after. We spent May excitedly looking at nursery furniture and tiny outfits but not getting ahead of ourselves and buying anything just yet. The 12 and 20 week scans were both amazing, getting to see him and to hear his heartbeat was just wonderful. There were no signs of anything to be concerned about at any stage. Then, out of nowhere, our world was turned upside down and labour started at 23 weeks and 2 days - we still don’t know why.

Emergency cerclage surgery was performed to try and stop labour progressing and we managed to keep our boy in for an extra week which, in the world of extreme prematurity, could make all the difference.

Our beautiful son, Jack David Campbell, was born on Monday 13th June. Jack arrived at just 24 weeks and 2 days, weighing 785 grams, he was perfect.

We knew Jack would have a long and difficult road ahead of him, but he came out fighting. Over the next 5 weeks and 1 day, Jack overcame so much, and we could not be any more proud of him. Jack had difficulties with his lungs and breathing, an open duct in his heart that diverted blood away from his other vital organs, issues with his gut and kidneys, and blood that struggled to clot on its own. He fought them all. Jack survived surgery on his bowel, heart surgery and a pulmonary haemorrhage but, ultimately, it was just too much for him. As one doctor put it, Jack just couldn’t catch a break. He was such a strong little man, and we believe he could have beaten one or even a few of these obstacles, but he simply had too many thrown his way.

On Tuesday 19^th July, after a particularly difficult night, we knew that we had reached the point where it would have been unfair of us to ask Jack to keep going. We made the hardest decision imaginable as parents - to say goodnight to our much-wanted and much-loved son and to save him from any pain or suffering. Jack passed away peacefully in our arms with no cables and no pain.

Our boy was perfect - he just arrived too soon and his little body wasn’t ready for the world yet.

We never wanted Jack's first home to be the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), let alone his only home but, with that as our reality, we could not have asked for better care nor a better group of people to look after our boy. 

We feel a deep sense of gratitude to the fantastic team at Evelina London's Neonatal Unit for the time and memories that they gave us with Jack. Without a doubt, they kept him in the fight and they kept him comfortable. Every single person there was fully in Jack's corner, and we felt it. 

It was the team at Evelina London's Neonatal Unit that gave us 5 weeks and 1 day with our boy - we got to know him and his little personality, we got to feed him and change his nappy, we got to hold his hand and see him open his eyes, we got to cuddle him and to tell him he was loved. We also got to say goodbye to Jack on our own terms, just the three of us. We may not have been able to bring our baby home but we are so very thankful for our memories.

We are very private people and have struggled with whether to share Jack’s story publicly. After a lot of thought, we decided we had to go for it to support the neonatal team that supported us and our boy. Maybe the money means that one more family gets to take their baby home, maybe it means that one more family gets one more day of making memories. We believe it can only mean something positive and that’s what we want Jack’s legacy to be, that’s why we share.

We start our fundraising efforts with a walk in Jack’s memory, completing the Chiltern 50 with family and friends on 24th September 2022.

Thank you for taking the time to read Jack's story.

Please consider donating and thank you for your support.

Jack's Mum & Dad 

(Laura & Ali)