Our second son Rufus was born premature at 34 weeks, joining us & the world unexpectedly early. He was delivered at Furness General, with excellent support received from the Maternity & Special Care Baby teams during & immediately after the labour. Due to his prematurity, he had to be delivered quickly & subsequently required breathing support so he could stabilise. My wife Rachel also needed & received amazing emergency support, due to complications from the birth. 

Rufus was then transferred to the Lancaster Neonatal Unit, where the team there worked tirelessly over the next 8 days to stabilise & give him the support needed to grow. We were extremely grateful to also be allowed to stop on the ward near Rufus for the duration of his stay. Due to the excellent support, Rufus was able to come home in short order and without any long term problems from his ordeal. 

However unfortunately a few weeks later Rufus contracted invasive Strep A, resulting in an emergency admission to Furness General Paediatrics. The team there literally worked flat-out for 12 hours to do everything they could to save his life, as his system began to shut down in response to the infection. Due to their amazing efforts, Rufus was eventually stabilised, together with starting the life saving treatment that he needed. He was then transferred to Alder Hey Children's Hospital for further treatment, but without a doubt the work that took place at Barrow saved his life. 

Many months now on, both me and Rachel are so pleased & thankful that our wonderful boy made a recovery, and is still with us today. Throughout all the problems, the most amazing aspect has been the people involved with & delivering the Maternity, SCBU, Neonatal and Paediatric services across the Bay Hospitals. The fact they all care deeply, and are prepared to go above & beyond without ever being asked, is something we will both be externally grateful for. 

As a result, I am keen to do my part in raising awareness & money for the Bay Hospitals Charity & the services mentioned above. The aim being to help ensure the amazing staff continue to have the right equipment available to them, along with any other support they need. 80% of all donations will go to the Bay Hospitals Charity, with the other 20% going to the Rotary Club of Furness, for both their own local community work and the effort of organising the Tour De Furness event.