On the 2nd November 2021, our baby girl Nell was born, 14 weeks premature. Over the next 105 days Nell was given amazing care by  staff on the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the John Radcliffe Hospital. During that time we were also given incredible support by SSNAP; a team dedicated to helping sick newborns and their parents through some very difficult days. Hospital life with a sick child can be a very lonely place, but the SNAPP staff became a friendly face, a listening ear and pushed endless snacks and treats on us try to keep our spirits and energy up. They also fight the corner of parents who need a voice but are too emotionally exhausted to do so for themselves. 

One of the worst times of our lives was when, at three weeks old, we couldn't visit Nell for 12 days due to illness. The online photo and video sharing app that SSNAP funded became the only contact we had with our precious girl at a time when nobody else was allowed to visit in our place due to COVID restrictions. They also gave us books to read Nell which make us feel that little bit less useless, and sent lovely Christmas gifts to Thea so that she would feel involved, even though she couldn't meet her little sister. SSNAP also fund staff development, and purchase medical equipment for the NICU unit, as well as expressing machines and easy chairs for parents to have skin-to-skin cuddles with their babies. In short, they make an incredibly traumatic time just that little bit more bearable and we are eternally grateful. 

Our journey is still ongoing and Nell requires additional oxygen to support her, but we think you'll agree that she is looking beautiful. We have signed up to run the Oxford Half Marathon together in October in aid of SSNAP and would love to raise as much as we can for them to express our gratitude, and so that fellow 'preemies' and their parents can be cared for like we were. 

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In the UK, 1 in 10 babies need specialist care at birth. SSNAP supports sick & premature babies, their families and the amazing NHS staff that care for them in the Newborn Care Unit at the John Radcliffe Hospital. Imagine your newborn baby needing specialist care at birth. Instead of those very special days getting to know your baby as a family, you're catapulted into an unfamiliar world of incubators, wires, medical tests and interventions. While your baby has specialist treatment, we provide emotional and practical support to help you through the trauma & upheaval. We're there to help families cope, and provide state-of-the-art medical equipment and nursing expertise that could save babies lives. In 2022 SSNAP will be celebrating 40 years of being there for families at a time when they need them most. Please support their #SSNAP40 appeal to raise an additional £40,000 in their anniversary year for their incredible cause to enable them to be even more of life-line to so many.