Help our family budget after our son's premature birth
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Hello. I am Kamil. I am fundraising for my family and specifically for my baby son, who was born prematurely this year in January in the hospital in Middlesbrough (UK). He is called Heath Dale. My wife was 28 weeks pregnant on the day when Heath was born.
This year has been a true emotional rollercoaster - with the mix of joy, relief, dread, stress, exhilaration and the sheer bliss of having a new member of our family. It's a blessing and we've been full of love since his arrival!
Photo: Heath with Kamil in the James Cook Hospital NICU
However, his arrival also meant a serious financial strain for the both of us. While in January we had barely any debt at all, now, me and my wife have over £6,000 in debt or more in between us, and that's why we're asking for support. Please read below what I am going to do to fundraise, as it's quite a challenge!
Over the last year:
- We, for three months, lived at two different hospitals while our son was in NICU, first at James Cook Hospital in Middlesbrough, and then the York Hospital: extremely expensive.
- I had to pay for intensive driving lessons and learn to drive while my son was in the NICU in the incubator, fighting for his life. I have an older daughter Isabelle, now 9 years old, from my previous marriage and as we live in the countryside, it was essential to be able to drive between Hull and our home in Oswaldkirk, North Yorkshire, where we used to live, so she could see us regularly according to her schedule. The original plan was to drive by April when Heath was due, but he decided to come 3 months early. I only managed to get the license in June after several months, after 4 driving tests, which are incredibly difficult to arrange for these days, and having spent well over £2,000 on lessons, petrol for practice, paying for the driving tests, including some hotel stays.
- In the meantime, every second week between January when Heath was born and June, I needed to pick Isabelle from Hull and bring her to our Oswaldkirk (or Middlesbrough and York to see Heath). On almost every occasion, this necessitated getting taxis between Malton and Oswaldkirk. Each second weekend, those trips cost at least £130, a combination of trains, buses and taxis. This went on for about 5 months.
- Additionally, at the end of my wife's stay at the York Hospital, every time I saw them, I needed to pay £45 for a taxi ride from York to Oswaldkirk until they were home.
- Think this is it? How about house move in the same year as all of this has been happening? Our landlord in Oswaldkirk contacted us around April to say that he wouldn't extend our lease past the contract end (November 2024), wishing to sell the house, and can we find ourselves a new home then... I have to say that we now live, because of it, in a supremely beautiful place, a mile or two Hawes in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales; nonetheless, the move itself was not of our choice. We had to get the removal company to pack most of our stuff for us, too. Trust me, when you have a tiny baby in the house, there is only so much packing you can do. So this was another £1,700... Other expenses added up, of course, like deep clean of the previous house and similar.
Photo: Kamil and Heath on a walk in Farnsdale, North York Moors
All of this is just money, of course, but there's been lots of stress and emotional hardship in between as you can imagine while we continue to care the best we can for our beautiful, wonderful son.
Money-wise, we are ok for affording life, but worry for the credit card debts, all of which, as above, was not by our choice. It's been an amazing set of every challenge possible coming together at the same time. This was on the back of more expenses in 2023 where a combination of needing to get MRI and private consultations for my own illness and needing to get a family matters solicitor also had eaten into my own finances. It's been a heck of two years!
So we're asking if you could help us out a bit if you possibly can as the circumstances we have been put under are simply extraordinary.
WHAT AM I GOING TO DO TO FUNDRAISE?
Many of you will know that I am a seasoned long-distance hiker and have done many many miles in Scotland and England, including walking the Scottish National Trail, Pennine Way, Cleveland Way and Southern Upland Way.
What I am going to do is the most massive challenge I've ever undertaken.
I will hike Lady Anne's Way, which is approximately 95 miles, from Skipton on the southern borders of the Yorkshire Dales National Park to Penrith, just east of the Lake District National Park. Please see the map on komoot: My challenge hike's route
- I will do so IN THREE DAYS, from October 4 to October 6, 2024 (Friday to Sunday).
- Yes, this means 30+ miles per day.
- Yes, I will not be thwarted by any British weather in October.
- I will start at 4.30am every day and walk for as long as it takes to do the approximately 30 miles.
You will see from my Komoot record that I have done 30-milers in a day before, but never before 3 days in a row like this.
My travel will be recorded and I will make a longer video of it within 2 weeks of the trek. I will upload it to my YouTube channel and share with you. My YouTube channel is a hiking one.
Video: One of the first walks near our new house in the Dales.
We are all nature lovers and obsessed with the outdoors, and there's a reason why our baby son is called Heath Dale - so this is my tribute to him and seems quite fitting. It is also a challenge of the proportions I've not taken before, even for me. It will be hard, strenuous and likely in strong, unrelenting October wind. But it's for my family, my beautiful children and my most spectacular, loving wife.
Anything you can do and give will be most welcome and will help us tremendously: we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. We wouldn't ask if this year hasn't been as challenging as it has been. It will help us recover and thrive and we will be grateful to you forever.
With much love and thanks,
Kamil and his beautiful family
Photo: My wonderful daughter Isabelle, my beautiful wife Cat and gorgeous Heath
At the beginning of this video, you can watch me talk to the camera about the fundraiser as well as follow me on a recent walk in our beautiful Wensleydale.
Organizer
Kamil Trzebiatowski
Organizer