Thomas’s Tiny Hearts Fundraiser

A Barnsley couple have organised an amazing charity fundraising event on Saturday 3 October, 7pm at the Alexandra Working Men’s Club, Royston to raise money for Barnsley Hospital Charity’s very special Tiny Hearts Appeal.

Scott and Janine Meyers have organised Thomas’s Tiny Hearts Fundraiser to celebrate the christening of their baby Thomas who was born 13 weeks prematurely, on Scott’s birthday at Barnsley Hospital where he was cared for by the Neonatal Unit.

The Tiny Hearts Appeal is a campaign to raise £1 million to support the relocation to a new Neonatal unit that will be built around the needs of the babies and their families. State-of-the-art equipment will be provided to enable the Neonatal team to continue their fantastic care and enhance their environment. The unit will be situated on the same level as the Barnsley Birthing Centre, meaning babies will not have to be exposed to different environments and different temperature changes, nor will they have to be taken into an elevator up to the neonatal unit on the top floor.

Thomas was born at just 27 weeks and 4 days and was the size of a 25 week gestation baby. His growth in the womb had slowed down due to his mother Janine, developing pre-eclampsia during the pregnancy. He was delivered by emergency caesarean section at Barnsley Hospital weighing a tiny 1lb 11oz.

Scott Meyers, Thomas’s father says:

“We really wanted to give something back to the hospital and staff on the neonatal unit after everything they did for Thomas – they saved his life. They were absolutely amazing and we can’t thank them enough for everything they did for Thomas. This event is just something we wanted to do to say thank you. We also want to raise awareness of pre-eclampsia as this is a condition that pregnant women may get and can be fatal to both mother and baby if it goes undetected.”

The couple from Church Street, Royston have had tremendous support from family and friends, gathering round and donating auction and raffle prizes, as well as local businesses showing their support. Within three hours of the fundraiser tickets going on sale, they’d sold 100.

Janine Meyers, Thomas’s mother says:

“Thomas had to be transferred to Hull Royal Infirmary Neonatal Unit after three days because Thomas was having difficulty with ventilation, heart problems, a bleed on his brain, under developed lungs amongst other things and had to be transferred quickly.”

“We lived in the hospital with him for a month at Hull and Scott had to take over a month off work to be with us. We’re so thankful to everyone, both at Barnsley Hospital and Hull for everything they did. We’ll never be able to thank them enough.  Being away from family and friends at a time like this was hard but Thomas was our priority.”

Thomas was transferred back to Barnsley Hospital’s neonatal unit after four weeks at Hull Royal Infirmary to continue his recovery where he spent another three months.

Steve Wragg, Chairman of Barnsley Hospital Charity said:

“This is a real heart-warming story that demonstrates the skills and care our staff are able to provide here at the hospital. They’re extremely dedicated to providing the very best care to the most vulnerable babies.

“Premature babies are underdeveloped and have to be given extra help for their tiny bodies to cope with the outside world, and can spend up to 13-14 weeks on the unit. The care on the unit is focused around allowing the babies to fully develop and the current unit needs to be updated and expanded in order to allow parents to have proper bonding time with their babies.

“We all wish Thomas and his family the very best for the future and look forward to hearing about his progress.”

If you’d like to show your support, and make a donation to Thomas’s Tiny Hearts Fundraiser you can visit www.justgiving.com/thomasjmeyers/ or contact the charity office on 01226 431650.