Ben & Nigel hiking the Yorkshire 3 Peaks for Baby Beat

On the 20th September 2025 Ben (Luca’s dad) & Nigel (Luca’s great uncle) will be hiking the Yorkshire 3 Peaks to raise money for a charity very close to our hearts, Baby Beats (part of Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Charity).

On Thursday 27th March, our

beautiful baby boy, Luca was born.

Unfortunately shortly after he was born, it became clear he had Respiratory Distress Syndrome as well as the onset of an infection. Due to the inability to get this under control, his condition rapidly deteriorated and became critical, resulting in him needing intubation and ventilation, and leading him to develop PPHN (Persistent Pulmonary Hypertension of the Newborn). Which turns out to be condition which is very complex and challenging to treat.

This is where our tour of neonatal intensive care units across the North West began.

Our baby boy was taken in a specialist neonatal ambulance from Lancaster to Preston, and then Preston to Alder Hey where the teams battled to save his life. Thankfully after a very long few days and multiple procedures, with Luca fighting for his life, his condition stabilised and finally began to improve.

I don't think anyone can prepare you to hear the words that your baby 'may not make it'. But these tiny babies are tougher than they look and he put up the most incredible and inspirational battle (just like his late great grandad did who Luca shares a middle name with).

During this time in the hospital, we were all split up from one another - I was too ill to be allowed to travel on the first night, and our daughter had to stay with her grandparents for 13 nights which absolutely broke us all.

Thanks to particularly the teams in Preston and Alder Hey, Luca is making a fantastic recovery and we are hoping and praying for no long term problems.

We would love to be able to give back to some of the charities who we greatly benefited from during such a traumatic time.

The first charity we would like to give back to is Baby Beat, who help to provide the best care, treatment and facilities to mums and their babies at their hospitals.

We were provided with a beautifully renovated room on the neonatal ward, comfy chairs to sit on in the wards whilst at the baby’s bedside as well as many other things we could not have done without.

Please help us to raise as much money as we can for this incredible charity, so they can continue their efforts to make parents and babies stays as comfortable as possible.

Thank you so much!