A grateful father and uncle have taken steps to raise cash for the neonatal unit that saved the life of Alyth baby Liam Henvey.
Born 15 weeks’ prematurely and weighing just 1lb 12oz, Liam had to fight to survive but now he is thriving and has celebrated his first birthday.
His dad James Henvey and uncle Gavin Ewart spent a weekend walking through the Angus glens and raised £703 to show their gratitude to staff at Ninewells Hospital.
Liam’s mum Lisa Ewart said, “James is planning to do more fund-raising events for the unit. He is really getting into that now. It’s the least we can do to say thank you to all the staff.”
Lisa has just returned to the unit where her boy was coaxed to life. She wanted to show off her son, who is growing bigger and staying healthy, and give the staff the proceeds from the walking weekend.
The only apparent residual effect from Liam’s early arrival is that he has problems with his hearing, and is fitted with hearing aids.
Lisa said, “The only problem is getting him to keep them in. The only thing the doctors can put his hearing difficulties down to is his being so premature and it has damaged his hearing.”
Otherwise, Liam is doing well. Although it is a year since he was born, in the early months very premature babies’ development is measured against the age they would have been had they been born on their due date, which in Liam’s case was June 15.
As we previously reported, Liam was four months old before he was allowed home from hospital and went through several operations. At one point his parents were told to prepare for the worst as he was not expected to make it through the night.
Lisa (28), a charge nurse at Rosemount Care Home in Blairgowrie, and James (25), a self-employed tree surgeon, went through the agony of losing their first child less than seven months before Liam’s traumatic arrival.
Their first baby, a boy named James, was born in August 2009 at Ninewells. Apparently a healthy full-term baby, James died at home when he was just four days old.