Our son's fight for his life...

In 2008, if it wasn’t for The Sick Children’s Trust’s and their ‘Home from Home’ Eckersley House, we wouldn’t have been able to stay with our son throughout his fight for life. Robbie, our little miracle, was born more than three months early, weighing just 2lbs and 7ozs, very suddenly at home in our bathroom. We called the ambulance service who arrived very quickly and took Robbie and me to Scarborough Hospital. My very shocked husband, Anthony, met us at the hospital and once Robbie had been stabilised and put on a life support machine we were rushed to St James’ Hospital in Leeds. This is where I was introduced to The Sick Children’s Trust’s Eckersley House who at this time had a ‘Home from Home’ there which provided free accommodation to families of sick children. The house has since been relocated to provide support to families of children from the Leeds General Infirmary The staff at the house were fantastic and the fact that they could offer us a room on the hospital site was invaluable and gave us the ability to stay with our very poorly little boy. After a three and a half month stay in hospital with many ups and downs including a nerve wrecking surgical procedure, Robbie finally came home, still weighing less than 5lbs. As a family we will always be indebted to all the people and services who helped get our little boy where he is today. Robbie is a happy, healthy four year old who lights up our lives every minute of every day. The Sick Children’s Trust played a massive part in our story, allowing us to be close to Robbie and provide support and comfort at both him, and each other at a critical time. Denise, Robbie’s mum