15 March 2010
A grateful father has helped to raise £1,250 for the unit that treats sick and premature babies at Epsom Hospital, 11 and a half years since his newborn son was treated there.
Paul Smith’s son, Joshua, was born at the hospital in 1998. Sadly, doctors found that Joshua had congenital pneumonia and he was rushed to the neonatal unit in a critical condition.
Joshua thankfully made a full recovery, and his dad returned to the unit on Thursday (11 March) to donate the generous sum and pay thanks to the staff who work there.
Paul said: "As soon as Joshua was born he was whipped away to the neonatal department. Quite simply, if it wasn’t for the hospital, we wouldn’t have our little boy. It was touch and go for a while, and they saved his life.
"We owe the department so much, so it’s brilliant to be able to give something back today. I’ll never forget being here with Joshua – the noise of the monitors brings it all back instantly. I remember sitting here for hours on end just cuddling him to my chest. But the results are amazing – Joshua is just fine now."
As chairman of the south east region of the British Insurance Brokers Association (BIBA), Paul can choose which charities will benefit from their annual dinner event. A total of £2,500 was raised by BIBA south east which will be split between the Epsom Hospital neonatal unit and St George’s Hospital, who also helped to treat Joshua.
Neonatal sister, Nicola Langley said: "We owe Paul and BIBA a massive thank you and a huge well done. It’s an incredible amount of money to donate and everyone in the unit is very grateful.
"We’ll need to discuss what exactly we’ll buy with the money, but whatever piece of equipment we settle upon, I’m sure it’ll be a great boost to the unit. We just can’t say thank you enough!"
