Jenni Pack contacted us in June 2011 to let us know that she would like to celebrate the 1st birthday of her son Max by asking friends and relatives to donate to St George’s Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) instead of buying presents.  We were delighted that Jenni was able to raise over £600 in donations to support the unit.

She’s kindly agreed to tell us about the experiences that she, her husband and Max went through and why it was so important for them to do this to say thank you.

“Max became very ill, rapidly, and thankfully we were at our local A&E department when it happened.  Max had slipped into respiratory arrest and the hours that passed after seemed like a nightmare.  A&E were able to resuscitate him and had to give him blood transfusions as a result of bleeding within his lungs.  A retrieval unit had been dispatched and we were taken to St George’s PICU where the nurses and doctors quickly carried on working on Max to stabilise his vital signs, they intubated Max and had to assist his breathing in order to let his body recuperate.  Both my husband and myself were beside ourselves with worry,  a nurse came to us and  immediately began talking to us and kept us calm and informed, letting us know what to expect to see when we were finally allowed in to see Max.

“Once Max was settled we got to taken into PICU where for the first time in hours the world felt like it was calming down.  It was so frightening to see our little boy of  a month old laying there on a respirator with tubes all over him and not being able to help him, he looked so peaceful, all I wanted to do was pick him up and hold him.  We were given a room to try and get some rest but within a couple of hours we were back at Max’s beside.  The following few days seemed to meld into one another but facilities available meant that we could stay at the PICU and be called immediately.

“It was comforting to be able to sit with our son and talk to him for as long as we wanted without feeling like we were getting in the way and stopping the nurses doing their jobs.  Although at the start I was too scared to touch Max the nurses understood that and helped me by encouraging us to help with cleaning and turning Max.

“The technology available to our son was beyond anything we thought the NHS had, the care he was given was without question superb.  There were nurses around the clock monitoring his vitals and caring for him (turning, cleaning and dressing), and all of them kept us up to date with Doctors comments, changes in health (good and bad) and even down to taking the time to educate us about the machines so we wouldn’t be scared of the many sounds they make.  When we were brave enough to leave Max, we were given a room at Ronald MacDonald house which was a stone throw away so we could be with Max immediately if needed.

“Max started making a really good recovery and eventually was extubated.  We then watched as our baby boy opened his eyes for the first time in a week.  The nurse then picked Max up and passed him to me to hold, this was the most amazing moment for me as it felt like an eternity since I had been able to hold my son.  I then passed him to my husband and sat and watched him cuddle him.  Before we knew it the nurses were all waiting for a cuddle with Max who they had all grown to care about so much.

“The doctors and nurses were amazing for Max and without their support throughout I am not sure how well we would have fared, emotionally.  We can never thank St Georges PICU enough what they did for our family, we are truly thankful and will never forget them.”