Freddie’s fundraiser for Bassetlaw Maternity Ward

My name is Sophy and on the 15th June 2022 mine and my partner Ben’s life changed forever.

I was 18 weeks pregnant and found out the devastating news that our baby boy Freddie was not compatible with life. Receiving the diagnosis of bilateral multicystic dysplastic kidneys and absent bladder along with oligohydramnios which meant his lungs could never develop properly.

We we’re informed that once Freddie was born at full term, he would live no longer than 24hours and would be in pain and discomfort. We were given the option to keep going with the pregnancy or choose  to end the pregnancy therefore end and prevent anymore suffering.

After receiving this news, we were heartbroken. There was nothing we could do to save our boy as there was no current treatment and no way he can survive with no working kidneys.

We had to make the difficult decision to end the pregnancy as this was the kindest option for both Freddie and myself.

Freddie was born at 3pm on the 19th June 2022, just a few days after my birthday. We were advised Freddie may have already gone before being born or he may have a heartbeat for up to 2 minutes once born. Freddie amazed everyone as he lived for an amazing 1 hour 15mins. He fought so hard to stay with mummy and daddy and we are forever grateful we got to spend some time with him before he peacefully passed.

We are completely heart broken from losing our boy so suddenly. Everything always looked perfect at every scan until one day we had a random scan which showed his kidneys were larger than they should be.

MCDK is a very rare disease and there is no known cause. Sometimes it can be genetic, however most of the time it is completely random and babies born with this condition do not survive if both kidneys are affected.

The care we received at Bassetlaw Hospital was phenomenal. They made an extremely difficult time that little bit easier and we can’t thank them enough for everything they did for me, Ben and our boy. They treated us and Freddie with the utmost respect and dignity.

Because of this, I started this fundraiser in Freddie’s honour to raise funds for the Bassetlaw Maternity ward.

Freddies funeral is taking place on the 22nd July.

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