We have two children Shay who is two and Chloe who has just turned one. Both Shay and Chloe were transferred to CHI at Crumlin shortly after they were born for very difference reasons and under very different circumstances. When Shay was ten-days-old, he had his first open heart surgery. He was in intensive care for eight days after the surgery and in total he spent 26 days in hospital. Shay has now had 2 surgeries and will face into a third soon. While this news was a huge setback to us as a family it so comforting to know that Shay will be under the same medical and surgical team for the next chapter of his medical story.

When I was 16-weeks pregnant with Chloe, there was a concern about the growth of the babys chin. This was monitored over the following weeks and after a lot of scans and tests our little princess Chloe was confirmed as having Pierre Robin Syndrome. This is a rare congenital birth defect which results in the baby having micrognathia (underdeveloped jaws), backward displacement of the tongue and upper airway obstruction. Chloe also had a cleft pallet. Chloes condition spanned a lot of medical disciplines. When we arrived at Crumlin, Chloes room became like a bus station. All of the medical teams Chloe needed were ready, waiting and even queuing up to see her. It was crazy but also very comforting. Chloe had and still has input from the Respiratory team, ENT, Ophthalmology, Audiology, Speech and Language, Dental, Plastics and The Cleft Palate team. That is a lot of expertise and a lot of people we became very grateful to have help Chloe along.

Both of our beautiful children would not be here today filling our home with laughter and fun but for the expertise of the staff and facilities in Childrens Health Ireland at Crumlin. To show our appreciation we now make monthly donations to Childrens Health Foundation. The donations are made in Shay and Chloes name each month and we feel that when they are older, this is something they will appreciate and also learn the importance and value of giving to others.