Extra cold cot will help to keep memory of our Leo alive
SARA Hogan and her partner Michael McArdle were devastated when their son Leo was stillborn last month at Queen’s Hospital in Burton.
But out of the tragedy, Sara’s mother, Alison Arrowsmith, has revealed that the family have raised the £2,000 needed to buy an additional cold cot for the hospital to offer parents who suffer the same heartbreak of losing their baby the chance to say goodbye to them.
The device is to arrive at the hospital in the next eight weeks.
Sara’s family are also continuing their campaign to provide other hospitals in the region with the devices, which come equipped with cooling units. A cot at Queen’s Hospital preserved Leo’s body and allowed Sara and Michael the chance to spend precious time with him.
Alison, a 48-year-old complex care nurse, who lives in Uttoxeter, said: “Leo’s story has touched so many hearts. The number of messages we’ve received has been absolutely unbelievable.
“Many of them have been from people who can directly relate to what’s happened to our family, who have lost children, or they know someone who has. We’ve been in tears reading some of the messages we’ve received. And people have really got on board with the campaign as well.
“I’ve got a group of Uttoxeter ladies knitting angel blankets and little hats for premature babies. And English Rose Beauty and Aesthetics, in the town, has pledged £1 from all the fees it receives from clients until the end of October.
“It’s quite touching how all these people have got behind us.”
Leo was stillborn by emergency caesarean on September 20. He weighed just 3lb 11oz. Sara, 28, from Snarestone, Leicestershire, said the cold cot offered by Queen’s was invaluable in helping her family start the grieving process.
Sara, mum to Brogan, 10, Blake, nine, Briony, six, and Bobbi-Mae, five, said: “We asked how many cold cots there were and when I was told only one.
“That’s when we knew that our goal and focus was to make sure we raise enough money to buy another cold cot for Queen’s Hospital and donate it to them in loving memory of our little angel, Leo John McArdle.”
Anyone wanting to donate to the family’s campaign can do so by visiting www.gofundme.com/cold-cot-inmemory-of-leo-mcardle