Grateful mums raise money for new children's unit
Two grateful mothers have raised thousands of pounds for Raigmore Hospital’s youngest patients by taking part in the adventure of a lifetime.
Nicola Douglas and Nikki Bremner, whose sons had a traumatic start to life, completed a gruelling expedition to the 5895m high summit of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.
The money raised will go to the hospital’s special care baby unit (Scbu) and the new children’s department which is now just weeks away from opening.
Ms Douglas, of Inverness, and Ms Bremner, of Nairn, set themselves a goal of raising £10,000. They have already raised more than £21,000 from online appeals and other events ahead of the trip.
On their Justgiving page the two women state: "Our boys, Calum and Archie, did not have the greatest of starts to life.
"From premature birth, operations, neonatal resuscitation, pyloric stenosis, suspected meningitis and infections they needed all the help they could get.
"Thankfully, the special care baby unit at Raigmore Hospital and the children’s wards at both Raigmore and Royal Aberdeen Children’s Hospital were amazing. It is safe to say without them we may not have our boys today."
Ms Douglas’s son, Calum was just four weeks old when he became ill and subsequently had two operations in Raigmore and Aberdeen.
"The staff at Raigmore were fantastic," she said. "They were reassuring all the time which was great. Calum is now a strapping six-year-old boy and I will always be grateful to everyone for what they did for him when he was ill."
Ms Bremner, meanwhile, was taken ill when she was pregnant and two days after her son, Archie, was born, she was diagnosed with viral meningitis. Her son spent 10 days in intensive care and at one stage was suspected of having meningitis himself.
"I am so grateful to everyone at Scbu," she said. "The place was a real eye-opener to me and everyone there was amazing - supportive and very helpful."
The new children’s unit at Raigmore Hospital is due to open its doors this spring. It is being made possible thanks to overwhelming public support for the Highland Children’s Unit Appeal launched by the ARCHIE Foundation in conjunction with The Inverness Courier.
There is just another £70,000 left to raise to reach the £2 million target.
The creation of the new children’s department involves the redevelopment and extension of the hospital’s former ward 11, previously used for respiratory patients.
