Lyme miracle baby returns home (From Bridport and Lyme Regis News)

Lyme miracle baby returns home

11:05am Thursday 5th November 2009

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MIRACLE baby Charlie West made a rare visit home to help raise funds for the hospital unit that saved his life.

Five-month-old Charlie defied all the odds to survive after he was born almost three months early weighing 1lb and 11ozs.

He spent three months in the special care baby unit (SCBU) at Dorset County Hospital where he was put on a ventilator and underwent four blood transfusions, while battling infections in his lungs, stomach and bowel.

His parents Tracey Edwards and Pete West, of King’s Way, Lyme Regis, say their son would not have survived without the ‘amazing’ care he received at SCBU.

Brave Charlie is now back in hospital where he is being fed through a tube, but he managed a few days at home and was able to attend a sell-out charity night organised by his parents.

Pete, 35, a manager at Travis Perkins in Lyme, and Tracey, 30, a care manager at Shire House Care Home in Lyme, held a Hallowe’en auction, disco and buffet to raise funds for SCBU.

They wanted to say thank you for saving his life and collected more than £4,000 at Charlie’s Charity Night in Lyme Regis Golf Club.

Auction lots were donated by local businesses and included restaurant meals, golf days, and soap opera memorabilia.

Tracey said: “Our aim was to raise £2,000 but we thought we would struggle with that. I have been in hospital and wasn’t able to arrange as much as I would have liked to, so we were absolutely gobsmacked to raise more than £4,000.”

It comes as the Dorchester hospital today confirmed SCBU is ‘safe’.

In an exclusive interview, Derek Smith, interim chief executive of the hospital’s NHS Foundation Trust, said SCBU is not earmarked for closure under cost-saving plans. However, he revealed 200 jobs would have to be cut to balance the books.

Tracey said: “It’s absolutely fantastic news that SCBU is safe and I think they have made the right decision.”

She added: “SCBU was absolutely amazing. The staff were very dedicated and we couldn’t have asked for better care. He wouldn’t have lived and I wouldn’t have either if it wasn’t for Dorchester hospital.

“He was on a ventilator straight away, he had four blood transfusions, and an infection in his lungs, stomach and bowel, so without a doubt if the unit hadn’t been there, he wouldn’t have survived.

“We both owe them our lives.”

When Charlie arrived in May at 27 weeks, Tracey and Pete were told to expect the worst. “He went straight off to special care and at that point we didn’t expect him to live,” said Tracey. “But he has been a little fighter.”

Sadly, Charlie is still battling illness – he has chronic lung disease, he is permanently on oxygen, and is often rushed over to the Kingfisher children’s ward to be treated.

He was home for just a few days over the weekend to attend the fundraiser, but is back in hospital this week.

“He is being fed through a tube that goes up his nose and through his stomach,” said Tracey.

“He has got reflux, a build up of acid. It’s burnt his throat so they wanted to give his throat a rest.”

Now weighing 10lbs, Charlie also has regular home visits from Kingfisher nurse Gill Daubany-Nunn, who lives in Uplyme.

n See page 4 for latest on the crisis at Dorset County Hospital.

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