W
L
TRAVEL AGENCIES’ FUNDRAISING DRIVE
FOR WIRRAL HOSPITAL THAT
SAVED COLLEAGUE’S ‘MIRACLE’ BOY
A travel agency manager whose baby was born two months
prematurely has helped raise £4,600 for the Wirral neonatal unit
which helped save the life of her ‘miracle’ boy.
Natalie Price, 36, and her eight strong team at the Birkenhead branch
of Hays Travel, recently joined forces with the travel firm’s Bebington
store to fundraise for the neonatal unit at Wirral Women and Children’s
Hospital as part of the company’s annual charity challenge.
Natalie, along with Sarah Duncan, manager of Bebington Hays Travel,
chose to raise money for the neonatal unit, which is based on the Arrowe
Park Hospital site, as a personal thank you to the hospital team. Their
collective fundraising drive included sponsored walks, cake bakes and
office ‘pink pyjama’ days. Natalie, who is married to Paul and lives in
Prenton, Wirral, was supported by the unit four years ago when, at 28
weeks pregnant, a hospital scan revealed her unborn baby had stopped
growing. Concerned for the health of both mum and baby, doctors made
the decision to perform a caesarean nine weeks early and Jude was born
weighing just 2lb 13oz.
Natalie said it was thanks to the neonatal unit that she and her husband
were able to cope with the initial shock and worry of having a premature
baby. She said: “The first few days after Jude was born were a blur and it
was a bit touch and go but the unit staff were all amazing. Jude was just
so tiny and at first, we couldn’t even hold him – he wasn’t much bigger
than his little Peter Rabbit bunny. Even for 31 weeks, Jude was very small
and because of his size, he had a lot of breathing problems as well as a
collapsed lung. He had to stay on the unit for eight weeks, until he got to
what would have been his actual due date and during this time he had to
learn how to breathe, swallow and feed. I went in every day and would
be there for 12 hours at a time, sometimes they had to make me go home
– leaving Jude was really hard and I couldn’t have done it without the
nurses and the team on the unit.”
After two months, Natalie and Paul were finally able to bring their baby
son home and four years on and Jude has just reached another milestone,
his first day at school. Natalie said she felt extremely proud seeing Jude in
16 wirrallife.com
his new school uniform; “He is so independent, he just waved and didn’t
look back. Jude has such a character and is a real comedian - he sees
photos of himself in the incubator and says he was like a baby chicken!
He is still small for his age and has croup which he needs treatment for
but other than that he is healthy and a total whirlwind. Jude is most
definitely my little miracle.”
Hays Travel Bebington store manager Sarah Duncan – who along with
her team raised £2,000 of the final £4,600 total by completing a 10-mile
fun walk dressed as babies - said the success showed just how vital the
neonatal unit was to the Wirral community. Mum of two Sarah, 47, who
lives in Eastham, said: “My assistant manager’s best friend Nicci Rowley
also had a baby prematurely at the neonatal unit. Little Isabella is now
two and has been signed off completely by the hospital but, with Natalie’s
experience as well, it really brought it home just how many people rely on
this service. On our sponsored walk, people were coming up to us to say
their child had been helped by the unit. It is just so vital to our area and
close to the hearts of so many people.”
Impressed by their fundraising efforts, Hays Travel North West Managing
Director Don Bircham topped up the amounts raised by the Birkenhead
and Bebington stores, meaning a grand total of £4,600 was presented to
the neonatal unit. Don said: “All our branches totally embrace the annual
Hays Travel fundraising challenge and with such a personal connection
to the Wirral Neonatal unit, it was a pleasure to be able to add to the
fantastic total raised by the Birkenhead and Bebington teams.”
Victoria Burrows, Head of Fundraising for Wirral University Teaching
Hospital, said the money raised by the Hays Travel team would now
make a real difference to the unit. “We are so grateful to all the staff
at Hays Travel Birkenhead and Bebington and company directors for
their amazing support. Our neonatal unit cares for some of the most
vulnerable and fragile babies, whose parents are often going through
the most difficult time of their lives. This generous donation will make a
huge difference not only by contributing to medical equipment but also
helping to improve the ward environment to make parents’ neonatal
journey that little bit more comfortable.”