In memory of Elis

With enormous thanks to the generosity of Elis' family and friends, we have collected a huge £1,315 to do something in memory of Elis at the hospital. I have spoken to other mums from the unit as well as the staff about how best to spend the money and we have agreed a general plan.

I would like to re-purpose what is currently just a toy room by the neo-natal unit into a multi-purpose room for use by family and friends on the unit. At the moment, if you have to leave your baby's cot (during rounds or during a procedure etc) you sit in the corridor and wait, which can sometimes be for some considerable time. I would have really appreciated having a cosy little 'santuary' to retreat to during such times, or just to have a break when things were getting tough, eat a sarni, go for a chat etc etc etc. Creating that sanctuary is the plan, we just need to wait until they're not quite so busy on the unit and deal with all the health and safety issues before we get cracking.

Meanwhile, as a more personal tribute, I have combined all the posts and comments from this blog with the photos published online into a book. I have also incorporated photos and messages from the nursing staff that they had written in a book whilst Elis was in hospital. I wanted to have something to show him when he was older that showed him how much he was loved during his difficult early life so that he had a positive view of it.

I originally published this book purely for my own benefit as I wanted to have a physical copy of his story, but I have been asked by a number of people if they can have a copy of the book. The simplest thing is just to provide a link to the book and enable people to order it directly. It is about 140 pages long and costs £11.05, which is purely the cost of printing - we're not generating any money from sales, so only buy a copy if you really want one. You can download it for free.

Once we have made the changes to the toy room at the hospital, I will post some photos to show what has been achieved and also then update the book to reflect his memorial at the hospital.