Jane Price
shivs3wishes NICU PAH
Fundraising for Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust Charitable Fund
Story
We are almost there x so far with your help we have raised a staggering £20527.907 for ITU PAH & BROOMFIELD RENAL UNIT,& another fantastic £7009.07 for NICU PAH, with just under £3,000 to reach our £10,000 goal for NIC PAH of our £30,000 total target.
This is the story of one young mums search for a kidney after fighting for life following the birth of her son. Read her full story below.
Description
Lots of fund raising will be done over the next year and ongoing with all donations being split between ICU and NICU at Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow for saving Siobhan and Gino's life as well as the Renal Unit at Broomfield in Chelmsford for continuing to save Siobhans life. Read the full story below.....
Siobhans story...
The 2nd March 2013 should have been one of the happiest days of our lives. Instead it turned out to be the day that changed our lives for ever. I gave to birth to my fourth child and I would love to tell you all about that day but I can't. I cannot remember the labour, giving birth, holding him or taking him home to see his brother, sister's, grandparents, aunty and cousins.
However, this is what I can remember. I was home no more than 3 hours following the birth only to be rushed to A&E by husband Carlo. I remember being sat in a wheelchair waiting to be seen in the most excruciating pain I have ever felt. And thats it, that is all I can remember.
Five days later I was slowly being woken from my medically induced coma in the Intensive Care Unit in Harlow. I was told that my new born baby, Gino, was blue lighted to Harlow's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit shortly after I was rushed in. My sister and my mum noticed his breathing wasn’t right and made that life saving phone call to 999. I can never thank them both enough for being there to save his life.
We were both very very sick. We had both caught the same life threatening virus STREP A & SEPSIS. After being woken I was told that we both nearly died and it was a miracle that we both survived. A wish was made for each of us to survive. My husband, my three other young children, my parents, my in-laws, friends, and most of all, my family in Ireland were all asked to come to say their goodbyes. To be told this and that Gino was in NICU was devastating. It broke my heart to think how scared and still scared, my children were. Carlo told me that I had to have an emergency hysterectomy to remove the STREP A virus. There went my chances of having another child taken away from me. I aslo caught SEPSIS, another life threatening illness. This caused multi organ failure. My feet turned black and there was talk of my toes having to be amputated, this didnt happen but my feet did suffer terribly and now have nerve loss in them. I had so many canulas inserted, that it damaged my left hand to the point where I cannot use it any more. My Kidneys were not recovering so I had to be transferred to Broomfield Renal Hospital for specialised Renal Dialysis.
Having all of this happen to me didnt break me, what did was not being the mummy to my four young children I used to be. All I wanted to do was to go home and care for them, thats what broke me and is still breaking my heart to this day. In ITU after a lot of deliberating from the doctors, I was finally allowed to see my baby boy for the first time. They had to cover all of my wires, neck lines, tubes etc because of infections to Gino. I remember being wheeled in a chair shaking, swollen, and scary looking to meet my son. And there he was, so quiet with wires everywhere, nurses , not me attending to his every care. I was so scared, nervous and too weak to hold him. When in my arms, I will never forget how he opened his eyes for the first time and kept them open to stare up at me whilst I was talking to him. Carlo couldnt believe it. He hadn't done it for anybody else, he was waiting for his mummy. My second visit was again a lot of hassle but nothing was going to stop me. When I saw him I knew something wasnt right, yet again doctors were there. They told me Gino was very sick again, I asked if he would be ok? All they could say was that they were transferring him to Addenbrooks hospital for again life saving treatment. And that was it, he was taken to Addenbrooks.
Our third meeting was to be on the day he was returning to NICU and I was being transferred to Broomfield. The staff pulled out all the stops to keep me there as long as possible to see my baby. I remember a nurse holding on to my hand and telling me firmly she was not letting me go until I had seen my son. Hours later Carlo wheeled him into me. We had the most wonderful cuddles, kisses and conversation together although short. I held him close to me for all of fifteen minutes before we had to say goodbye.
My time in hospital was horrendous, being parted from my family, seeing how scared they all were, I will never get over it. How could this be happening to all of us? The awful scary nightmares, being left alone, learning to feed my self again, being washed and cleaned by staff, having to learn to sit, stand and walk again especially with feet that were black, swollen and oozing. I lost three stone in a matter of a few weeks, I lost my strength and energy. I had a huge fight on my hands, it was far from over. I have missed out on so much of our precious family life, our lives have changed forever.
In hospital I was given so many false hopes from being able to go home to my family, to my kidneys recovering completely. I now have chronic kidney failure, my kidneys will never recover. I need to have Dialysis 3 times a week, four hours each time and six hours a week travelling, all this to keep me alive. I will be dependent on Dialysis for the rest of my life and have to depend on my mum's help, who moved in to help and be there for the children. I also depend on support and help from my friends and family. Unless I can make my third wish come true, to raise awareness and to find a suitable doner, which in my case, is even more difficult to find, our lives are on hold as I am highly sensitised due to having so many blood transfusions. My children have nightmares, they worry each time I go to hospital.... will I come home? So many daily battles to face but all I can do is carry on as best I can and keep wishing that one day soon someone out there can help me and others on the transplant waiting list.
Siobhans story...
The 2nd March 2013 should have been one of the happiest days of our lives. Instead it turned out to be the day that changed our lives for ever. I gave to birth to my fourth child and I would love to tell you all about that day but I can't. I cannot remember the labour, giving birth, holding him or taking him home to see his brother, sister's, grandparents, aunty and cousins.
However, this is what I can remember. I was home no more than 3 hours following the birth only to be rushed to A&E by husband Carlo. I remember being sat in a wheelchair waiting to be seen in the most excruciating pain I have ever felt. And thats it, that is all I can remember.
Five days later I was slowly being woken from my medically induced coma in the Intensive Care Unit in Harlow. I was told that my new born baby, Gino, was blue lighted to Harlow's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit shortly after I was rushed in. My sister and my mum noticed his breathing wasn’t right and made that life saving phone call to 999. I can never thank them both enough for being there to save his life.
We were both very very sick. We had both caught the same life threatening virus STREP A & SEPSIS. After being woken I was told that we both nearly died and it was a miracle that we both survived. A wish was made for each of us to survive. My husband, my three other young children, my parents, my in-laws, friends, and most of all, my family in Ireland were all asked to come to say their goodbyes. To be told this and that Gino was in NICU was devastating. It broke my heart to think how scared and still scared, my children were. Carlo told me that I had to have an emergency hysterectomy to remove the STREP A virus. There went my chances of having another child taken away from me. I aslo caught SEPSIS, another life threatening illness. This caused multi organ failure. My feet turned black and there was talk of my toes having to be amputated, this didnt happen but my feet did suffer terribly and now have nerve loss in them. I had so many canulas inserted, that it damaged my left hand to the point where I cannot use it any more. My Kidneys were not recovering so I had to be transferred to Broomfield Renal Hospital for specialised Renal Dialysis.
Having all of this happen to me didnt break me, what did was not being the mummy to my four young children I used to be. All I wanted to do was to go home and care for them, thats what broke me and is still breaking my heart to this day. In ITU after a lot of deliberating from the doctors, I was finally allowed to see my baby boy for the first time. They had to cover all of my wires, neck lines, tubes etc because of infections to Gino. I remember being wheeled in a chair shaking, swollen, and scary looking to meet my son. And there he was, so quiet with wires everywhere, nurses , not me attending to his every care. I was so scared, nervous and too weak to hold him. When in my arms, I will never forget how he opened his eyes for the first time and kept them open to stare up at me whilst I was talking to him. Carlo couldnt believe it. He hadn't done it for anybody else, he was waiting for his mummy. My second visit was again a lot of hassle but nothing was going to stop me. When I saw him I knew something wasnt right, yet again doctors were there. They told me Gino was very sick again, I asked if he would be ok? All they could say was that they were transferring him to Addenbrooks hospital for again life saving treatment. And that was it, he was taken to Addenbrooks.
Our third meeting was to be on the day he was returning to NICU and I was being transferred to Broomfield. The staff pulled out all the stops to keep me there as long as possible to see my baby. I remember a nurse holding on to my hand and telling me firmly she was not letting me go until I had seen my son. Hours later Carlo wheeled him into me. We had the most wonderful cuddles, kisses and conversation together although short. I held him close to me for all of fifteen minutes before we had to say goodbye.
My time in hospital was horrendous, being parted from my family, seeing how scared they all were, I will never get over it. How could this be happening to all of us? The awful scary nightmares, being left alone, learning to feed my self again, being washed and cleaned by staff, having to learn to sit, stand and walk again especially with feet that were black, swollen and oozing. I lost three stone in a matter of a few weeks, I lost my strength and energy. I had a huge fight on my hands, it was far from over. I have missed out on so much of our precious family life, our lives have changed forever.
In hospital I was given so many false hopes from being able to go home to my family, to my kidneys recovering completely. I now have chronic kidney failure, my kidneys will never recover. I need to have Dialysis 3 times a week, four hours each time and six hours a week travelling, all this to keep me alive. I will be dependent on Dialysis for the rest of my life and have to depend on my mum's help, who moved in to help and be there for the children. I also depend on support and help from my friends and family. Unless I can make my third wish come true, to raise awareness and to find a suitable doner, which in my case, is even more difficult to find, our lives are on hold as I am highly sensitised due to having so many blood transfusions. My children have nightmares, they worry each time I go to hospital.... will I come home? So many daily battles to face but all I can do is carry on as best I can and keep wishing that one day soon someone out there can help me and others on the transplant waiting list.
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