A LOVING father is raising vital funds for a children’s charity after his premature born son received life-saving care.
James Eddleston, 36, of Finchingfield, is embarking on a cycling challenge to raise funds for the Sick Children’s Trust after the charity supported him and his family.
On June 5, 2023, son Jude was born six weeks prematurely via an emergency caesarean section at Broomfield Hospital and was resuscitated before being placed in a ventilator.
The medical team at Broomfield told James and wife Faith that Jude was in a ventilator in intensive care as his lungs were not working and that his condition was deteriorating.
James said: “He cried for around five seconds and then fell silent.
“Moments later, one of the medical staff shouted, ‘code blue’.
“A team of medics rushed in and started working on him, immediately giving him oxygen before putting a tube though his nose into his lungs and taking him away.
“It was utterly terrifying.”
It was decided that Jude needed to be transferred from Bromfield to Cambridge Hospital’s specialist neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at the Rosie for life-saving care.
Once in Cambridge, a nurse arranged for James to stay at Chestnut House, a 'home from home' run by the Sick Children’s Trust which is two floors below the unit.
James said having the room at Chestnut House was “crucial” and “amazing” for the family during Jude’s stay in the hospital.
Jude was slowly taken off the life-support machines and eventually transferred back to Chelmsford.
His grateful parents were able to bring him home on June 15.
On May 27, James will cycle the 41-mile ambulance route that transported Jude to Cambridge Hospital as a way of saying thank you to the charity.
He said: “I’m not a cyclist so for me this is quite a challenge.
“I really wanted to do something to say thank you to the Sick Children’s Trust for being there for my family when we really needed it.
“It cost the charity around £40 to support a family for one night, and I hope I can raise some good money to help them continue to being there for families during such stressful times.”
To donate to James’s JustGiving page, head to tinyurl.com/zanamsfv.
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