Vapotherm for Barnet Neonatal Unit

Make a difference today- I am collecting donations to purchase a Vapotherm High Flow therapy device (this is a type of respiratory support system for premature babies) to donate to the Starlight neonatal unit at Barnet Hospital.

On 16th June 2014, I gave birth to beautiful twin girls at 25 weeks gestation. In case anyone isn't familiar with the cycle of a pregnancy, it should be 40 weeks. My babies came 15 weeks early and with it came a very long and turbulent road home.

One of the biggest problems faced by premature babies is breathing. Born so early the lungs are extremely underdeveloped and are just forced to work way too soon. I was lucky enough to have had the steroids administered to me to help develop their lungs as I had actually gone into labour at 23 weeks.

Now, I won't bore you with the details of all of the other health factors affecting these babies and we will just focus on their breathing. All babies born very prematurely will have to be ventilated, with an old school, pipe down your throat ventilator.


How long they stay that way depends on their condition. Once they come off of the ventilator there are several options for breathing support. The typical machines these babies get put on is called CPAP . It provides a continuous positive airway pressure to help the babies keep breathing. To be on CPAP the baby has to have a mask on their nose, then this is tied on to a hat that they wear which holds up the hoses up on their heads which provide the air and take away condensation.


All of this has to be on pretty tight because to be effective the positive pressure must be maintained and air cannot be allowed to leak out. As a result, these tiny fragile babies have their faces squashed beyond recognition. Their bones so soft that they just bend as the straps are tightened. This often causes long term problems with the shape of the babies heads and noses, cheeks are often sunken and eyes bulging.


That is just the surface of the problem with CPAP. The mask needs to be changed every 6 hours and so every 6 hours these babies who are not yet meant to be born, or handled, are subjected to pulling and tugging at their noses and faces resulting in a lot of pain and discomfort. As their brains are still developing this kind of handling and touch causes the brain to be hardwired to perceive any touch to the face as negative and involves pain and discomfort. This in turn causes these babies to suffer with sensory issues later on and problems with their development and feeding. My daughter was on CPAP for 77 days. She is 11 months old now and screams if you try to touch her face, especially around her nose and mouth and is completely refusing to wean or to let us put anything in her mouth. 

Now, here is the point. There is a newer technology, Vapotherm . It is far less invasive. It involves a simple nasal canular, attached using two small plasters on the cheeks, which only needs to be changed once a week or when the plasters come off. This means the doctors and nurses are touching the baby less often and less forcefully. It is more comfortable for them because they can smell and have use of their senses. They can see properly because their face and vision isn't obstructed. They can hear! The CPAP emits such a loud noise that the doctors liken it to sticking your head out of the car window while driving down the motorway!

And for the parent it is amazing because you can see your baby and feel them without them being under the hoses and hat and masks.

With all of that in mind, I am collecting donations to purchase a Vapotherm machine to donate to the Starlight Unit.  Starlight is a 30 bed neonatal unit with only 4 Vapotherm machines. That's right, 4! If you are not one of the lucky 4, and you need breathing support, you go on CPAP. A Vapotherm machine costs £4550 and because the purchase will be made through the Barnet hospital charity  it is exempt from VAT.  To be able to clear this amount after paying GoFundMe fees we need to raise between £4950 and £5050.


I need your help to make this a reality. To give one baby a better chance at overcoming all of the problems they will face from being born too soon and giving families the chance to see and feel their baby and bond with them in a way that isn't possible when they're stuck under so much equipment.

You may be thinking to yourself, 'but what are you going to do to get me to donate? Are you running, jumping, baking or what?'. My answer is this, I am letting you in to the deepest and darkest part of my life. I am letting you see my children when they were on the edge of life and death. My endurance has been tested for 90 long days and nights where sometimes all I could do was just look at them. When sometimes we didn't know what the morning would bring. I have ran one of the biggest races you can imagine and I got my family home, and it is a beautiful thing.


If this isn't for you or you can't donate, please do share this with your family and friends, maybe they can help.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and for all of your support.