Hi,

My name is Isla and me and my sister Grace were born on the  21st July 2012 at 28 weeks gestation after mummy went into early labour and all attempts to stop it failed. Both Grace and I grew really strong really quickly and mummy and daddy couldnt believe how well we  were doing! Unfortunately on the evening of August 1st I became quite poorly quite quickly and I was transferred back into the intensive care room,  away from Grace, who I sadly never got to see again. Tests showed I had a horrid infection called Necrotizing Enterocolitis. Over night I deteriorated rapidly and by morning I was fully ventilated and mummy and daddy were told I would possibly need an operation, but there were no surgeons who specialised in this kind of operation where I was, so I would need to be transferred to a high level NICU. Mummy and Daddy were told that there was a possibility I would be going to either Great Ormond Street or Addenbrookes, which would mean leaving Grace behind. Addenbrookes confirmed they had a bed for me and a transport team were dispatched (Daddy took photos of the amazing incubator that took me there, Mummy said it looked like a spaceship!) it took a long time to make me stable enough for the journey as I was really poorly, but after 3 hours of Drs prodding and poking me and taking blood from mummy, I was on my way in an ambulance, with a huge team of people to look after me!! I arrived at Addenbrookes at around 9pm, and while I was getting settled in, Mummy, Daddy, Grandma and Grandad arrived at the hospital. They were shown to a small room and a surgeon called mr Brain came and spoke to them about the surgery I would need. Mummy and Daddy signed the forms so there were no delays in the surgery taking place should it need to, and after saying goodnight to me, they were able to go and stay in a room just down the corridor from me.

In the morning the Drs decided I did need surgery and so off I went down to Theatre, Mummy was really scared and said it was the longest 3 hours of her life! During the operation the surgeon removed alot of my small and large intestine as they had become infected and were no longer working. I was given an Ileostomy, which meant all my waste products would come out of the stoma in my tummy, and give my body a chance to heal.

After my operation I was the poorliest baby in the whole of Addenbrookes NICU and Mummy and Daddy were told that the next 48 hours were critical, but I was detirmined to fight! On sunday the consultant told Mummy and Daddy that my prognosis was not good and maybe we should consider having a naming ceremony. Mummy and daddy decided this was a lovely idea and spoke to the chaplain in the hospital. He was lovely and he arranged for all my grandparents and aunts and uncles to come to it, as well as printing off an order of service booklet for everyone. The baby in the bed next to mine had to go and have an operation, so the naming ceremony took place then, so that there was space for everyone.

My consultant was getting quite worried that I hadnt had a wee since before my surgery and were trying different things to try and get my kidneys working but it took a few days.....Eventualy I did the biggest wee you ever saw! Daddy was so pleased he took a photo of my nappy! The trouble was, because I had so much fluid retention, it affected my brain and I started to have seizures. Although this was all very scary, I was actually slowly inproving, and had now been downgraded to 3rd poorliest baby on the unit! I continued to fight with all my strength, with Mummy Daddy, Grandma, Grandad, Nan, Grandad Auntie Catherine, Auntie Gabby and Uncle Andrew visiting me regularly and telling me how much they loved me. After an EEG Mummy and Daddy were told that I would have some degree of brain damage, but it would be unclear how much until I was bigger. I kept up my fight until Thursday 9th August when I decided I had had enough. I was 19 days old. I stopped my ventilator working and the nurses and consultant had to recusitate me.....They managed to get the ventilator working again but a few hours later I did it again. Mummy and Daddy decided that this was my way of saying I had had enough and made the decision to turn the ventilator off. I had very emotional cuddles with Mummy and Daddy before the nurses unhooked me from all my machinary (apart from a morphine drip for pain relief)  and took me into the quiet room where I had my last cuddles with Mummy and Daddy.

Mummy and Daddy decided to set up this page as a tribute to me and to help to raise money for other babies who suffer from NEC. It is an extremely common illness in preemies but there is hardly any research being done on how to prevent it, Action Medical Research is one of the only charities who are funding research. So please help stop other families going through what my family has.

Thank you