Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

I have created this page for everyone to have the chance to help us raise money for this very worthy charity Tiny Lives.

If it wasn't for the help from this charity we would never of had the chance to have Charlie home for the time we did.

Charlie David Stephens was born on 12th April 2012 weighing 2lbs 4oz. 

Charlie was born at Wansbeck General Hospital 3 months premature.  He was taken to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the RVI who are supported by Tiny Lives, this was his home for the next 96 days (3 months 5 days). 

Charlie came home with his mammy & Daddy for 3 months before he took ill on 5th October with Meningitis.  Charlie fought very hard to stay with us for 12 days before passing away on 17th October 2012. 

Tiny Lives played a great part in helping Charlie to get well enough to come home so please please please help us and Charlie to give something back to them so they can help other babies born early or sick to be able to go home with their Mammy and Daddy's too!!!!

Thank you so much for taking the time to read Charlie's story he was such a special little boy to us all!!! and thank you for donating to Tiny Lives.

 

Tiny Lives relies heavily on public donations to maintain the highest level of care in The Newcastle Neonatal Service, providing specialist care for premature and ill newborn babies from all over the Northern Region of England. We can look after up to 30 babies at any one time, many of whom may be very ill or needing intensive care.

About half of the 600 babies admitted during the year are born to parents living in Newcastle and about a third are transferred in to us for intensive care from other hospitals either before birth in the womb or after birth in a special transport incubator which keeps them warm and provides life support for their breathing on the journey. The babies who are transferred stay here until they are well enough to go back to their own hospital. All premature babies need to stay in a special care baby unit until a few weeks before they should have been born.

The intensive care for these tiny babies need around 130 nurses and 20 doctors. Nursing and medical care on the ward demands particular skills and we support specialist training in those areas. It is very important that we keep up to date with the latest advances and we contribute to some of these by supporting local research projects. The babies need careful monitoring and support with expensive equipment so that they have the best chance of recovery. We try and make the experience less stressful for parents by making the environment more homely.

Below is a guide to how Tiny Lives use your money to help these Babies.

Research Fellow               £35 - 49,000

ABL 735m biochemistry blood analyser £25,000

Research Nurse                £25,000

SLE HFO ventilator           £16,500

Dräger incubator              £10 - 14,000

Babytherm 8000 cositherm   £4,750

Infusion pumps (ivac)    £3,000

Ohmeda (+ biliblanket) £2,200

Philips Galaxy MP640 magneto optical disc drive (for ultrasound)£2,000

Calibration unit               £1,700

Kanmed 'warming nest' (+ control box) £1,700

Pulse oximeter (sat monitor)      £1 - 2,000

Syringe pumps (ivac)      £1,500

ECG recording module for Hewlett Packard monitors   £900

Syringe driver (Graseby)  £700

Apnoea monitor                £500

Oxygen analyser                £500

Breast pump Ameda elite £425

Medela lactina (+ case) £415

Ameda hand      £8.50 -£12.00

Doppler seward vacutrak£250

Baby scales (Seca)           £170

Donating through Just Giving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

So please dig deep and donate now.