Family raise money to help save tiny babies
Teddy Bennetts was born at 27 weeks in November 2018 weighing just two pounds six ounces and spent nine days on the Neonatal Critical Care Unit.
Teddy’s parents, Jade Bennetts and Jake Gallagher, decided after his birth that she would raise money for the hospital and the staff that saved their son’s life and helped him get home so quickly, and just in time for his first Christmas.
At the beginning of 2019, Heartlands Hospital Charity and Good Hope Hospital Charity announced the new Incubator appeal which aimed to bring seven brand new state-of-the-art incubators to the hospitals to help save even more tiny lives.
Jade and Jake kicked their fundraising off by holding a raffle at Teddy’s christening and his older brother, Reagan, sold cakes and sweets to help raise money too.
The family took part in the Great Midlands Fun Run and then in November 2019 organised a walk on World Prematurity Day with over 50 people taking part and baking cakes for a cake sale to mark the end of the walk.
Talking about Teddy, Jade said: “Nearly one year to the day to World Prematurity Day 2018, Teddy is an amazing one year old who is absolutely thriving in every milestone he gets to – other than sleeping!
“We are raising money to celebrate our little preemie and for more teeny babies at the hospital.”
The family visited Heartlands Hospital’s Neonatal Unit again on 17 December 2019, a year to the day that Teddy was discharged from hospital, to present a cheque to the staff and the hospital charity for an incredible £2,384.61!
Sian Averill, Fundraising Manager for Heartlands Hospital Charity, said: “A huge thank you goes to Jade, Jake, Reagan, Teddy and all of their family and friends for getting involved and raising such a huge amount of money for the hospital charity’s Incubator appeal.
“The money has gone towards purchasing seven brand new incubators for the Neonatal Units at Heartlands and Good Hope which will go on to help the staff save even more tiny lives.”
To find out more about newborns in need at the hospitals, please click here.
