Great North Run

Welcome

Thankyou for visiting; and welcome to our blog to account the fundraising our friends and family are supporting us with, in memory of our brilliant boy Benjamin.

We welcomed our boy to the world on the 22nd January 2009. For the twenty days that we shared with him, we poured our heart and soul into bringing him happiness. His eyes melted our hearts, his smell infused our souls and his future gave us the licence to dream the happiest of dreams.

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On the 11th February our boy left us. We held him while he drew his final breath before he went to sleep in our souls.

The cause of death was ‘brain damage’ as a result of ‘pneumonia’, explained by the notion that he picked up an infection 24-48 hours before he died which he didn’t have the immunity to deal with.

Following the inquest in to his death we are comfortable in the knowledge that the facts surrounding his life and death have been reported truthfully and the relevent procedures and investigations that follow a sudden infant death were properly conducted.

Raising Money

We are raising money for the Children’s Hospital Charity; the charity exists to support and enhance the services of Sheffield Children’s NHS Trust and it’s reputation as a centre of excellence for the research, prevention, care and cure of childhood illnesses.

We would like to pay tribute to the efforts and expertise of the staff at the Sheffield Children’s Hospital. The care that was co-ordinated by Dr Cliff Bevan was of the highest order; he is a highly skilled consultant but most importantly a wonderful human being who spoke to our family with honesty, clarity and dignity. He was supported by a highly efficient crash team and a fantastic team of nurses; Caroline McCaffrey, George Coldwell, Lindsey Walsh, John Preston and Sandra Cole.

The hospital have continued to support us in the weeks and months that have followed Ben’s death. Notably Dr Bevan and bereavement co-ordinator Sheila McGovern.

It is important to us that the money raised, is directed to relevant projects to improve the methods of practice used on Benjamin and assist the hospital in giving every child every possibility of overcoming their illness and living a happy healthy life. Though we know that there is nothing that would have saved Ben, the projects we have chosen to support, we believe will directly contribute to the hospitals ability to treat patients effectively and also save lives.

It is also important to us that the funds raised are directed to provide additional services to the core ones provided by the £80 million annual contribution by the NHS. Supporting the charity means we are backing the hospitals surgeons, consultants and clinicians with pioneering ideas and equipment to help keep the hospital at the forefront of paediatric excellence.

The projects that we have decided to support are:

Baby Simulator

‘SimBaby’ is a ‘high-level patient simulator’, which includes a whole body baby mannequin. The mannequin, which has a realistic anatomy, drives mechanical and computer software allowing very sophisticated modeling of cardiovascular & respiratory systems. It can be programmed with a certain illness or condition so that they can practice dealing with that emergency situation.

The ‘crisis scenario’ in which Ben arrived at the hospital can be replicated through the baby simulator and will allow the critical care team to practice ‘the most difficult things that they have to do’.

The cost of ‘Simbaby’ is £33,000 and half of the funds raised in Ben’s memory will be directed to purchasing one for the Sheffield Children’s Hospital. The NHS contribution could never stretch to such cutting edge and advanced technology.

Intensive Care Unit

The charity have ring fenced funds for each ward and department, this allows the staff working on each ward to spend their fund at their discretion, as and when needed.

The majority of the care that Ben received on the 11th February was in the hospitals intensive care unit. Ensuring ICU have the best equipment will ensure that they are the best they can be and every patient has the best chance.

Each year all the wards in the hospital have a wish list of their wards needs. The other half of the funds raised in memory of Ben will contribute to the 2009-2010 budget ICU have for additional services and equipment.

Love and Life Forever

Kerry and Dan Newton