Thanks for taking the time to visit our JustGiving page which supports the amazing charity we’ve chosen to run the Brighton Marathon for!

Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at William Harvey Hospital does amazing work in their specialist intensive care unit. They provide intensive care for newborn babies from across the region whilst supporting the parents throughout.

NICU supported our friends Connor and Tori and their precious beautiful daughter Phoenix (Feisty Phoenix) through a premature birth.
Feisty Phoenix was born on 25th January 2020, 15 weeks earlier than the expected date of 9th May 2020.

The workers at NICU, which is backed by the funding of this charity done all they could to support and ensure Phoenix has the life every child deserves.

Phoenix was a fighter from day 1, and inspired everyone with the strength she showed. Her parents, family and everyone around her who loved her instantly knew that she was going to become the vibrant, beautiful and characteristic little lady she has today because she was always striving through the early battles present in her life.

That being said, without the support of NICU, none of this would be possible, they were hands on from the get go, supporting Phoenix with 24/7 care, literally on-hand care whereby they’d be present just watching every second of every day, ready to respond when things may have taken a turn for the worse, which on occasions did.        

On top of everything they done to keep, or at times make Phoenix healthy again such as blood transfusions, phototherapy (treating jaundice), lipids infusion (fat deposits directly into the stomach) and so on, the team at NICU also supported our two friends Tori and Connor throughout.

They included them both in as much as possible to make sure they both felt like they had a hand in caring and supporting Phoenix with feeds, wire changes etc. 

Tori and Connor were provided with accommodation on-site of the grounds as they lived quite a distance from the hospital to ensure they could be there at all times and have a place to lay their heads, this also had a phone connecting to the Nurses so they could call at any time for an update on Phoenix. On-top of this, the nurses and doctors were there to support Tori and Connor as well as Phoenix, as it isn’t something you’re used to going through, or even hear of people close to home going through, this caused anxiety at times, to which the nurses and doctors were so hands on with them both this prevented things such as nervous breakdowns.

Finally, outside of all this amazing support from the heroes at NICU, due to charities like this one, they are able to do their upmost best due to the equipment and support they’re provided with due to donations, NICU is able to support babies with some of the below, and more;

Specialist state of the art incubators with humidity to help protect the skin, keep babies at the perfect temperature and even allow the parents to play music and make it more personalised.

Photo therapy unit

MRI compatible infusion pumps- this enables babies to go straight into an MRI without having to be disconnected from their medications/feeds.

Specialist cots that can move around the hospitals

Cot bumpers

Breast Pumps and Cool bags

Stocking fillers for Christmas for babies and parents

If you can, please help and support in anyway you can via donations, shares and suppor. Phoenix, Connor, Tori, us 3 running and everyone working or attending/attended NICU will be eternally grateful

Donating through JustGiving 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. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.