Archie the brave project

This September, myself, my sister, and my dad will be completing the Great North Run for Sheffield Children’s HDU/ICU.

Archie was born prematurely at 32 weeks and, in pregnancy, had been diagnosed with an exomphalos major. Whilst we knew we would spend some time in the hospital, we weren’t quite prepared for what was to come. Due to Archie’s condition and prematurity, it impacted his lung growth, and he relied on life support and a lot of oxygen. Archie’s chance of survival was low, and from one day to the next, we didn’t know if we would have another day. Archie had a number of critical incidents, and we came very close to losing him several times. We spent seven months in total on HDU/ICU, and the care for Archie was always a balance between all of his medical needs and surgeries. The team surrounding us got to know Archie extremely well and carefully planned all his care, not just to get him to survive but also to give him a quality of life.

Nothing can ever prepare you for being at your child’s bedside while they are on life support, but there were systems in place that helped to make things less stressful, such as meals in the freezer, toiletry essentials, someone to talk to, and training to learn all about Archie’s medical equipment. All of these things can feel extremely overwhelming to sort out at the time, but we knew we had the support there on the difficult days. When Archie’s health improved, we benefited from baby massage sessions; Archie visited therapy dogs; we celebrated milestones; and staff always made festive periods as special as they could. All of these extras were above and beyond what we could ever ask for but really helped families like us to make the most of the good days we did get to have.

As a family, it is our time to give back and to help contribute to future families who, like us, have support through the hardest of times. If you are able to donate, we would be most grateful, but equally, reading Archie’s story and spreading the word of the amazing work and care that exists on HDU and ICU is just as important to us. Archie is growing up in a family that supports the idea that he is “different, not less,” and sharing that message with others is important to us and the families we have met along the way so these little superheroes get to grow up in a world that accepts them! Please join us in supporting that, too.

Beth, Abbie and Dave Knowles