In memory of our beautiful baby boy lucas, who passed away just 10 days old from necrotising enterocolitis (Nec). 8 weeks before my due date I went into labour, we were terrified, it was too early. Doctors explained to us what would happen, they told us they did not know what chance lucas had until he was born. But he would be taken to the neonatal unit possibly until his due date. When lucas was born there was a team of doctors and nurses in the room ready to take our little baby. The first thing we noticed was how loud his cry was, he had a good set of lungs on him. We were so relieved. We got a quick look at him and a little kiss before they had to take him. The next few days were just amazing. He came off his oxygen after just a few hours and was doing incredibly well. They moved him into another room because he didnt need as much care as the poorly babies. We had 8 amazing days with him, his tube feeds were being increased and we were told he was ready to come off his drip the next day and could be fed properly. We were so excited, we would finally get to feed our little boy. The next morning we got the dreaded call, lucas was poorly and had blood in his nappy. My heart sunk, I just knew it was bad and cried all the way to the hospital. We arrived to find nurses surrounding him. Our precious boy was so pale and was wimpering in pain. We were told they thought he had Nec and they had started him on antibiotics but the positive was he was still breathing on his own. The next 48hrs were the worst days of our lives. Lucas deteriorated rapidly. He had tubes coming out of every part of his body.He had to be intubated and the oxygen turned so high that his little body was shaking. His whole body swelled up and went purple and then black. On the second day he started to have seizures but they couldnt give him anything because he was already on so much medication. In the end his tiny body could not fight anymore and we held him in our arms as he passed away. We were so angry, we had never even heard of Nec and were not aware of what it would do to lucas. It took our little boy from us so quickly. We would like to raise as much money as possible to help researchers find a way of preventing premature babies from getting this cruel illness. We hope fundraising in memory of lucas will stop other parents going through what we went through. He was a special little boy who fought right until the end. But these tiny babies need our help! NEC is the inflammation and death of the bowel. It affects around 3,000 babies in the UK each year and sadly 35% of these babies will die. There needs to be more research into preventing and treating this illness.