Staff work miracles and comfort parents
STAGGERING stories of medical heroism have come out of the neonatal unit at Wales’ largest hospital and we can celebrate this Christmas that the £1m Tiny Lives fundraising campaign has hit its target.
The Noah’s Ark charity has been at the forefront of the drive to secure a new emotional support service for parents on the University Hospital of Wales unit.
This will provide incalculable comfort and support to mums and dads who are in the throes of one of the most harrowing chapters of their lives.
Parents will have the chance to process their trauma rather than leave it unaddressed.
It will also support nurses and doctors who are on the frontline in this vital work to save the lives of some of Wales’ tiniest citizens.
The generosity of members of the public demonstrates how this bastion of medical excellence is valued across the nation.
It is not just the world-class expertise that is prized, but the extraordinary care and compassion that patients and their families experience.
One in eight babies born in the UK each year are admitted onto neonatal units.
It is highly likely that everyone will soon know somebody whose family has benefited from the enhanced services.
If a baby needs surgery, parents may face greater anxiety than they have ever known.
It is hard enough for the mother or father of an otherwise healthy child to see their son or daughter go into an operating theatre, but this must be even more nerveracking if your loved one is tinier than any baby you have ever seen.
The new services will help parents through the challenges of this time but they can also take comfort from the fact that the unit has worked wonders in its life-saving work.
In recent weeks we have described how a little girl was born weighing just 1lb and 1oz and was given a 5% chance of survival.
The care she received allowed her to thrive and flourish.
The brilliance at the unit is not only on display in the operating theatre or in the moments after birth, but in the sustained care babies and families receive.
Dad Wes Gee recently shared his remarkable story of how his daughter spent the first year of her life in hospital.
We are blessed to live in a nation where nurses and doctors pursue the near-miraculous and still find time to support us in times of fear.