ECMO Team at University Hospital Leicester

Hi

We are Melissa and Laurence Shave, and this fundraiser is all about our daughter who was recently unwell and the team that saved her life. Her name is Nancy and she is now 20 months old.

Our lives changed forever on Boxing Day 2022 when we found our daughter unable to breathe in bed. We rushed her to hospital as we knew how serious it was. She was initially on High Dependency Unit but then transferred to Intensive Care at Royal Stoke Hospital on 28/12/22.

We found out that Nancy had several infections including Strep A, Flu A, Swine Flu, and Coronavirus. This had caused her her lungs to become severely infected and she developed pneumonia and sepsis.

Nancy was unable to breathe on her own, and required high levels of ventilation.

We then endured the worst night of our lives as parents on New Years Eve, where we told they were unable to ventilate our daughter, and that it was unlikely she would make it. I can’t remember the exact details, but I do remember saying goodbye to my daughter as they struggled to keep her alive.

It was then discussed with us that the only option for Nancy would be a procedure called ECMO. I had never heard of this, but in short it’s an artificial lung life support machine.

Thankfully, her referral was accepted by the ECMO team in Leicester who are the only team who offer a mobile ECMO and transport service in the country, and within a few hours they arrived in Stoke.

They arrived and completed the surgery required, they were calm and supportive, and dedicated to saving our daughters life.

We then spent the next two weeks in Leicester, where Nancy was on the ECMO machine and in a coma whilst the staff treated the infections and gave her lungs the chance to heal.

I can’t even put into words how fantastic and skilled the staff were. They treated our daughter with care and dignity, and also held our hands as parents.

Every single member of staff on PICU Leicester were amazing.

At this time, we knew we would be forever in their debt, after they performed the miracle of saving our daughters life.

ECMO is a very specialised and expensive treatment and is constantly under threat of being withdrawn from the NHS.

Whilst we were in Leicester, we spoke to frontline staff who told us their service largely relies on charitable donations.

Therefore, we want to raise money for this specific ECMO team to provide money for life saving equipment and anything that comforts other parents going through this.

No amount of money will ever express how grateful we are for this team saving Nancys life, but we want to help in any small way that we can.

Laurence (Dad) will be running the Potters Arf Marathon this summer to help raise money for this amazing cause.

Any donation, however small, is very welcome. This money could save a child’s life, as it did with our little Nancy.

Thank you so much if you have taken the time to read this.

Nancy remained in hospital until late February but she is now at home making great progress. It is also important to say that we received amazing care from Royal Stoke Hospital and Alder Hey, as our journey was a long one to recovery.

Laurence needs a particularly large good luck to get him through this marathon!