Fern just donated $30.00- Anonymous just donated $2.99
- Kirsten just donated $10.00
For many families, Christmas is shaped by familiar traditions and the little things they look forward to each year. But when your child is in hospital, Christmas can look very different.
It can mean listening for monitor alarms. Waiting anxiously for scan results. And walking out of the Hospital at night without your child. It's navigating some of the most challenging days of your life while still holding onto hope. And it's relying on the extraordinary care, comfort and support that surrounds you along the way.
This Christmas, you can ensure children and families facing difficult hospital journeys receive the care and compassion they need when it matters most.
Last year, Jacinta and Steve spent Christmas in Neonatal Intensive Care at the Women's and Children's Hospital with their newborn daughter, Charlotte.
Born at just 28 weeks, Charlotte was too fragile to be held in her first days of life. Instead, her parents watched and waited from beside her isolette as doctors carefully monitored her progress.
Then, on Christmas Eve, when Charlotte was one week old, Jacinta was finally able to hold her baby girl for the first time.
"It was amazing, so precious and so magical," she recalls. "It was a very big deal."
For most parents, a first cuddle comes naturally. For Jacinta and Charlotte, it took careful planning and a team of nurses to make it possible.
Charlotte was lifted from her isolette, with tubes, monitors and equipment carefully managed every step of the way so mother and daughter could safely share that precious moment together.
Looking at the photographs, you see a mother holding her baby.
What you don't see is the team standing just outside the frame, helping make that moment possible.
Moments Jacinta and Steve will never forget
When Charlotte was born she was so tiny that Steve’s wedding ring fitted her wrist like a bracelet.
The nurses caring for Charlotte created hand and footprints and added little reindeer antlers.
After a long 83 days in NICU, Charlotte was able to go home
Your donation helps support children and families through some of the most difficult days of a hospital stay, creating moments of comfort and connection when they need them most. For Charlotte’s family, those moments took on even greater meaning at Christmas.
Charlotte remained in hospital for 83 days, as her parents celebrated milestones most families would never think twice about. Wearing clothes for the first time. No longer needing breathing support. And finally, after months, bringing their daughter home. This Christmas, Jacinta and Steve can simply reach down, pick up Charlotte and hold her close. No waiting. No tubes to carefully navigate. Just their little girl, at home with them.
But another family will spend Christmas beside their baby’s isolette, watching every number on the screen and wondering what the next alarm might mean.
Fern
Anonymous
Kirsten
Merry Christmas Charlotte!
