Koa’s CuddleCot

Hi! A little about us and what we would love to achieve with our fundraiser.

We’re hoping to raise money to purchase a CuddleCot system that will be donated to Swansea bay maternity unit in Singleton Hospital.

Most hospitals only have a few cots available to grieving parents. These cots make it possible to spend as much time as they can with their baby. Without this invaluable cooling system cot some may only have a few hours or less to be with their baby. So they are very much needed.

For more info please visit https://cuddlecot.com

During October we as a family will be walking 29 miles in memory of our baby Koa, born at 29 weeks gestation.

Jessy, Koa’s mummy has also been crocheting baby hats and bonding squares to donate.

We would also like to use any extra money raised to donate to the 4 Louis charity, who support bereaved families.

I’d like to now tell Koa’s story and why we want to show our appreciation by giving back with something that will help families in need.

Our pregnancy journey had quite a bumpy start but finding out we were expecting our little miracle made all the difficulties fade away.

Then at 20 weeks we found that our baby had CHD. With that meant multiple hospital visits, tests and scans to find out what was going on. We had mixed opinions on Koa’s diagnosis but the most likely was that he had a rare heart condition called Pulmonary Atresia.

We faced so much heartache but we never gave up. Our little bit of hope was how well Koa was doing at every scan and check up, he was fighting despite his diagnosis. At 28+5 weeks gestation, I was admitted to Swansea maternity ward due to reduced movements and irregular contractions.

A few days later whilst still in hospital, I went into early labour at 29+2 weeks.

On the 4th of May 2023 at 3.13pm I gave birth to our beautiful baby boy, Koa. Weighing 2lb 4oz. He was so perfect, eyes wide open looking straight at us. He got taken straight away to be worked on, we had so much hope he’d be ok but sadly he was unable to be intubated due to unknown reasons and our baby boy passed away.

We knew nothing about CuddleCots and what they meant for parents like us. We were able to have our baby boy with us for a few days that will forever be so special. Without the CuddleCot none of that would have been possible. - Jessy & Caine, Koa’s parents.

Thank you for reading our story.