On 8 August, our son, Xavier, decided to arrive 11 weeks early (29 weeks gestation) by emergency caesarean at the Dubbo Hospital.

Xavier was airlifted to Sydney Nepean Hospital that night, while my partner Karleen was transferred to Sydney the following day. At this stage, Xavier is expected to remain in NICU for approximately 8 weeks. Karleen will also take several months to recover from the emergency surgery.

My other children are currently being cared for by family members in Dubbo as I have had to travel to Sydney to be with Karleen and Xavier.

Unfortunately, I have very limited leave accrued as I have only recently commenced work at my current job, so I am facing many weeks (or months) of leave without pay while I care for Karleen (and my other children) while Xavier remains in hospital.

The travel and accommodation costs that we are facing while Xavier is in Sydney (as well as trying to maintain our home in Dubbo) without any income from my workplace is causing me a great deal of stress at a time where we already have enough to worry about.

I seek any assistance possible to help reduce this financial burden so that so that I have one less thing to worry at an already stressful time.

Every little contribution is gratefully appreciated.