Hello! We are Jess and Lexi, and at some point we will be throwing ourselves off, sorry abseiling down, the ArcelorMittal Orbit structure at the Olympic Park in London to raise money for the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) in the Evelina Children's Hospital.

Jess

On the 10/11/2016, me and my partner Olie welcomed our beautiful baby boy Jacob Julian Christopher Smith into the world. We were unbelievably happy and so in love with our little man, but only 7 weeks later he was critically ill. Jacob contracted bronchiolitis, a common respiratory illness, at only 7 weeks old. For most children, this can be treated at home and a few will have to go into hospital for oxygen and monitoring, but our cheeky monkey decided that he was going to take things to the extreme. Whilst he was being treated at our local hospital, he went into respiratory arrest and was in real danger. Unbeknown to us, one of his lungs had partially collapsed due to the pneumonia and bronchiolitis. He was immeadiately rushed down to theatre and put on life support to allow his lungs to rest and prevent him from stopping breathing completely.

We were transferred up to the Evelina Children's Hospital by their specialist transfer service called the South Thames Retrieval Service. The retrieval service runs from the PICU ward in the Evelina, and collects critically ill children from all over the south east of England and transfers them to a PICU ward in London hospitals. There are no PICU wards in the whole of the south east of England, and this service undoubtedly saves thousands of children's lives each year.

The consultants, doctors and nurses in the Evelina PICU are one of a kind, without them I'm not sure me and Olie would have got through this ordeal, and I'm not sure Jacob would be here today. He was on the ward on a ventilator for 5 days, until he was well enough to breathe by himself again. These 5 days were agonising, however seeing the amazing specialist care he was receiving eased our pain. The Evelina also provided accommodation for me and Olie, so we were never far away from our boy and didn't have to go between the hospital and our home in Crawley to be with him. We will forever be grateful for the PICU team, and I am determined to give something back. The Evelina is one of those places you don't know exists until you need it, but when you do need it you are so thankful it's there.

Luckily Jacob is back to his usual smiley, chatty and cheeky self, but whilst we are at home and healthy, each day a new child will be admitted onto the ward and each of the 20 beds will be occupied by a critically ill child accompanied by their parents going through their worst nightmare. Although our story had a happy ending, the consultants, doctors and nurses hard work is ongoing to save poorly children's lives.

Please donate anything you can, it all adds up in the end. Even £1 is better than nothing!

Thank you,

Lots of love,

Jess, Olie & most importantly Jacob xxx

Lexi

I have seen the amazing care provided for my friends and their children during the most terrifying of times by the PICU unit in The Evelina, and how could you not want to help raise money for that? Even just a small donation can help fund lifesaving equipment and the South Thames Retrieval Service, which helps hundreds of critically ill children in the South East of England. Please donate anything you can, it all adds up!

Thank you, Lexi xxx

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