So, in the pictures is my son Ethan's graduation day in November 2024. A very emotional day special day for my husband and I and our family.

A shortish story of what has inspired this Gofundme page :-).

My son was born at 29 weeks weighing a wooping 2lbs! Unexpected but he decided to jump ship early. He was admitted to OF NICU for 6 weeks. This journey for us as first time parents, who were planning for a bouncing 8lbs baby boy around the 38/40 week mark, became a very fast rollercoaster. Any parent who has had this experience will be able to relate. It's counting and overwhelming at times. The care that we received on the unit, a place we had never anticipated to find ourselves in, was exceptional. The whole team from the nurses, Drs, reception, cleaners, HCAs, Outreach, Breastfeeding, to name a few, apologies if I have left some out, I can not begin to sing your praises enough. Eaten was cared for. Fast forward a year ( just to shorten the story), we got an invitation to a graduation! Full of wonder I made an inquiry as to the detail of the invitation. Lord and behold, the graduation day was in its second year of running. Parents and families of pre term babies are invited every November to celebrate these babies' milestones and the the fights many of them would have overcome. From touch and go moments in NICU to surgeries to countless appointments, being pocked and proded, you name it. Looking in the room on the days brought tears to my eye and I felt so honoured and privileged to be part of this journey. I was also saddened to hear that this event was not attended by all babies due to financial constraints as the funding to hire the small hall and provide nibbles came out of the staff pockets:-( It is my desire to see every baby of that year attend this special occasion. My token of appreciation is to raise funds to cover the hall and nibbles for the " class of 2024" and maybe beyond. Hopefully one day this can be done in every hospital with NICU in the country, woop woop!