The PICU beard off in aid of Addenbrooke’s

Hi, my name is Andy Farrow and I am fundraising for the pediatric intensive care unit Within Addenbrooke’s hospital. Unfortunately,  I have  been involved with this ward, more of which I will tell you shortly but first more about the ward.

 

The Paediatric Intensive Care unit (PICU) at Addenbrookes cares for children and young people who need special care for serious medical or surgical conditions.

Children in paediatric intensive care require intensive care support from doctors, specialised nurses and other members of the PICU team.

 

They are a 13 bed unit comprising of 8 intensive care beds and 5 high dependency beds. Many of the patients are admitted directly to the unit from other hospitals as emergencies.

 

Patients may also be transferred from the emergency department or other wards at Addenbrooke's. Some  patients have a planned stay  after an operation.

 

On the 27th July 2021 my young son Freddie was involved in a horrific incident within a department store in his home town of Colchester. In the immediate aftermath of this incident, every emergency service came to Freddie's aid to try and help and upmost save his life!

Pcso's, police , armed police, ambulance crew, first responders, air ambulance crew, doctors, nurses , consultants and specialist surgeons were involved .

Freddie was flown from Colchester to Addenbrooke’s hospital on the 27th for emergency intensive care. During the 6 nights and 7 days we spent by Freddies bedside the doctors and nurses, consultants and surgeons were second to none in how they worked and performed. They looked after not only Freddie but us as a family to, they all went above and beyond their job roles and absolutely nothing was an issue... In the most awful of times these people are the difference and we as a country should be so proud of our NHS and the emergency services we have.

Although we received the best possible care for Freddie, we had to say our final goodbye on the 2nd August.

 

As a kind gesture and way of showing my appreciation to all that helped us during this week,  I have decided with the help of a few friends and go fund me to try and raise as much money as possible.We already have  charity fundraising events  planned and will return to the picu ward this August with a cheque for the total raised.

 

As a light hearted way of fundraising  i  decided late last year to grow a beard.....with the intention of shaving it off for charity.  After being questioned why i look like a tramp On many occasions by work colleagues and explaining my reason, it wasn't long before the most harded beardies volunteered to join me. Now 6 of us will shave our beards off, some who have never been clean shaven.

The shave itself will be broadcast live on fb on July 31st.

Your help will be very much appreciated by all involved and I'm sure the staff in the picu ward will be very grateful with whatever amount we raise.