For Alice: Family and friends raise £3,000 for special baby care units

A first-time grandmother has teamed up with a close family friend to complete a 10k sponsored race and raise £3,000 for the specialist units that cared for her granddaughter who arrived nine weeks early.

Alice Whiteman was born on 18 December, weighing just 2lbs 2oz – having arrived so early she needed the specialist care of the teams in the Neonatal Unit at St Helier Hospital and the Special Care Baby Unit (SCBU) at Epsom Hospital. Kay Whiteman, Alice’s grandmother, said: “We were obviously delighted when Alice was born, but we also knew that she would need lots of extra care as she was born at only 31 weeks and three days.

“Although it was a worrying time for all of the family, the care Alice received at both St Helier and Epsom hospitals was just fantastic – we knew she was in good hands. After six weeks, three in each hospital, Alice was well enough to come home. We are incredibly grateful to both hospitals and all the staff who took such great care of Alice, which is what motivated me and my long-time friend Jenny Mould to enter the 10k London Winter Run to raise some money for the units.”

Thanks to support from friends and family, Kay and Jenny raised an impressive £3,000 – £650 for the Neonatal Unit at St Helier and £2,350 for SCBU at Epsom. Jenny explained: “We received such amazing support from family and friends, and are delighted with the amount we raised thanks to their sponsorship. It made a big difference knowing that we were running for Alice – we even had t-shirts with a picture of her on made, which really encouraged people to get behind us even more.

“We had a lot of fun doing the run, especially training in London which provided us with the perfect opportunity to stop off for lunch with friends!”

Kay and Jenny made a special visit to present the cheque for £2,350 to the team on SCBU at Epsom, and brought two very important guests along with them – baby Alice and mum Harriet. On receiving the cheque, Senior Sister Geraldine Cotter said: “This is such a wonderful, generous gift – on behalf of the whole unit, I’d like to say thank you to Kay, Jenny and everyone who sponsored them. The money they have raised is going to make a big difference to the unit and the families we help.

“The whole occasion was made even more special by Alice and Harriet coming along, too. It is always such a joy when the babies we care for come back for a visit! Alice is doing so well – she’s now 17 weeks old and weighs over 8lbs, which shows just how far she has come.”