Jake and I went into what we thought would be a routine 36-week scan, expecting everything to be normal. Instead, our world changed in an instant. Sunny was born within the hour, and we were later told that if our scan had been just a few hours later, he may not have survived and if it had been a day later, he almost certainly wouldn’t have.

Sunny has been given a clinical diagnosis of Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome. The first six months of his life were filled with tests, hospital visits, ongoing medications and at home monitoring. In total, Sunny spent the first 62 days of his life in hospital, moving between neonatal intensive care, high and low dependency units, and the children’s hospital.

While Sunny will continue to be monitored throughout his childhood, there’s every chance that as an adult he won’t fully know just how much he went through or how hard he fought in those early days.

We are planning on walking 62km (to represent Sunnys first 62 days of support) over two days with as many people as we can gather! This fundraising effort is our way of saying thank you, and of giving something back to the incredible teams who saved his life. The care we received in the NICU and beyond is something we will be forever indebted to. Our story could have had a very different ending and the word grateful will never ever be enough.

We hope that any money raised will help support these life-saving services, so they can continue to provide the same exceptional care to other families when they need it most.