Our son, Theodore, spent his first two weeks with us mainly at Worthing hospital due to him having many seizures and requiring tests and scans to be carried out to try and work out why they were happening. Unfortunately, aged 15 days, he had another sustained seizure in the evening, and he wasn’t able to come around by himself or with the reassuring support of others. This lead to Theo being sedated and put on life support. Unfortunately, the amazing staff on Bluefin Ward at Worthing Hospital couldn't fully settle Theodore and therefore called for urgent assistance from the specialist department at The University Hospital Southampton, named the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU). The ward is where critically ill children are cared for on a 1:1 basis with 24/7 care by specialist staff.

We were told to be prepared for the worst but to hope for the best, followed by being rushed there in the middle of the night where Theo remained sedated for days. As time went on, and as many tests and scans were carried out, Theo was eventually taken off of life support and stabilised.

One of the many benefits of being in the PICU ward, is that the required state of art tests and scans were able to be rushed through to investigate why the seizures were happening.

Cutting a long story short, Theo has now been diagnosed with Epilepsy and an extremely rare condition called Hyperekplexia. He takes two lots of medication twice a day, and will need to continue with this for the foreseeable. This doesn’t stop the seizures, as he still has them, but the aim is to reduce the quantity of them and reduce the severity of them. We’re in contact with physios, paediatricians, nurses and doctors etc on a weekly, if not daily, basis and Theo’s due more tests and scans early in 2024 to investigate his condition and development further.

However, we’re incredibly grateful to all of the staff at both Worthing and Southampton hospital.

As a result of which, as a small gesture for saving Theo’s life, I’ve signed up to run the ABP Southampton marathon on the 7th April 2024 in aid of Friends of PICU, to help generate vital funds to keep the unit going.

With PICU being based at Southampton hospital, I thought it would be fitting to run the marathon there rather than elsewhere!

So, if you’re able to spare any amount of money for this amazing charity who support an equally amazing unit, who quite literally saved Theo’s life, then it would be extremely appreciated and we’d be eternally grateful!

Do you want to join me in making a difference? I'm raising money in aid of Friends of PICU and every donation will help. Thank you in advance for your contribution to this cause that means so much to me.

More information about Friends of PICU: The Paediatric Intensive Care Unit at University Hospital Southampton is the regional specialist 16 bed ward for Southern England and the Channel Islands. 1000 Critically ill Children, newborn to 18years of age are admitted each year and cared for 24 hours a day with 1to1 nursing. The Friends of PICU supports these children and their families by providing vital equipment and services not provided by the statutory authorities and creating a suitable environment for the children to be cared within.