Oliver's Story
"My pregnancy was normal, until our 20-week scan, which revealed there could be something wrong with our baby’s heart. My husband Brian and I had walked into the hospital that day full of excitement, but left feeling devastated. A second scan confirmed our worst fears and the consultant said they wouldn’t know any more until Oliver was born.
Our story would be very different without Claire House. They have held our hands when it’s been too much and have helped us create happy memories.
Oliver was born in December 2020 and Claire House nurse, Kat, who had supported us during pregnancy was there during his birth, comforting us and calmly explaining everything that was going on. I could only hold him for a few precious seconds before he needed to go to intensive care.
Eventually we were able to bring Oliver home and Lucy from Claire House took over our regular care and has been here for us ever since.
Oliver has already needed life-saving heart surgery three times.
After the second operation shortly before Christmas 2021, Oliver’s condition deteriorated rapidly. He was rushed to intensive care, intubated and later that day he was on life support. It was the worst day of our lives, thinking we could lose our little boy. I’m so glad Lucy was there, liaising with the medical teams and holding our hands.
We were in hospital for three months on that occasion. On social media I could see other families doing Christmassy things. All I could think was, ‘why is this happening to us?’.
I’ll never forget Lucy coming in with paint and a bauble and together we created a Christmas bauble with Oliver’s footprint on. That’s so typical of Claire House, they still found a way for us to make a happy memory at the worst of times.
I honestly don’t know how we would’ve got to this point – and created so many memories along the way – without Claire House.
Oliver has spent so much of his life in hospital, including two Christmasses, so we’re looking forward to spending this Christmas at home, doing Christmassy things just like any other family."
