Support for families with babies in special care

This story is about our Great Dominion Okpala who only lived for five months and two weeks. He was born at the Royal Victoria Infirmary Newcastle on August 26 2019, but never came home. Great Dominion developed problems with his breathing when he was about to go home. He was given oxygen and then placed on full life support. While we his family waited anxiously for some good news, medics struggled to work out exactly what was wrong with Dominion.

Finally, we were told Dominion was suffering from a very rare genetic disorder that only about (if not fewer than) ten children in the entire world had. Doctors feared there was little they could do to help Dominion live without life support, but still tried to save him. We wanted to know more, we wanted the medical team to carry out more research. We are Christians and because of our faith in God, we hoped for a miracle. An ethics committee got involved and we were supported by mediators to get our points across. Nobody wants to lose their baby, so we wanted them to do everything within their power to ensure Dominion lived.

At some point we thought we’ve lost Dominion, but he being a little fighter pulled back from the brink of death twice, giving us more time with him than we expected. He really fought to be with us, he was such a beautiful miracle because he gave us many precious moments that we will forever hold dear. Eventually, Great Dominion couldn’t fight anymore, and he was taken off life support this February, with most of his loved ones at his bedside.

Now, as we approach what would have been his first birthday, we decided to raise funds to provide support for families with children in special care baby units under a proposed charity 'Great Dominion' in his memory. For this reason, we are requesting your support to enable us reach out to as many families that we can. We just want to touch other lives through this charitable cause because we want to share the light that Dominion brought into our lives.

Please could you help our beautiful miracle Dominion to hold his light high, hold firmly, hold together and let his little light keep shining on other little babies and families.

Many thanks for your support!