Reuben’s Walkers

https://www.reubenswalkers.co.uk

On 6.12.2019 we brought Reuben into the world. Reuben was born with a Left Sided Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia (CDH). Our care was transferred from Durham hospital to the RVI for further checks following our 19 week scan, where the diagnosis was confirmed. After weekly scans we found out that Reubens case was severe and he was only given 30% chance of survival following an MRI scan. At 28weeks we travelled to London after being referred to Kings College Hospital in hope of being accepted onto a trial for FETO where we were told after a consultation that this was not possible. At 37 weeks, Mam (April) was taken in for extra caution due to Polyhydramnios and an Induction was booked for two days later. After a 48hour labour we finally welcomed Reuben to the world. The room was full of so many doctors/midwives/nurses/neonatal team when Reuben was born and he was taken straight to the neonatal ward where we finally got to see him a couple of hours later. Reuben was on the high flow machine and endless medication to try and make him better but everything the neonatal team tried they couldn’t help him enough. The Freeman team visited Reuben to see if he could be transferred to their hospital so he could be put on the ECMO machine but he was too poorly to travel. We had family to visit the day Reuben was born and we had him baptised in the neonatal ward… although this was not what we ever wished for, the staff made this as special as they could for us. In the early hours of 7.12.2019 we were told to come and see Reuben as he had turned a corner for the worst. We sat with Reuben and the consultant told us that he was going to pass away that day and they had tried everything that they could. We will never forget that moment and our hearts were instantly broken. We spent the morning with Reuben and the staff helped us move him to the bereavement room where we had our own time with him and finally got the cuddles that we always wanted with him. Together we made the decision that no parents ever want to and we decided to let Reuben come off the machines and he peacefully passed away in our arms. The staff on the neonatal ward were so comforting and they gave us as much time as we wanted with him, they allowed us to bath him, take family photos with him and they allowed our families to come and grieve with us. We had to stay on the antenatal ward for that night and Reuben stayed with us in a cuddlecot provided by tiny lives.

Since Reuben’s passing we have raised money for numerous charities, running the Great North Run, doing annual walkers from our home in South Hetton to Newcastles RVI and we hold bingo lotteries to raise for our chosen charities. 

Lee (Reuben’s Dad)