Premmie Noah’s courageous battle inspires community to dig deep for specialised care

The grateful parents of a baby born 10 weeks early are fundraising to secure lifesaving equipment for a hospital neonatal unit.

premature newborns.Pic

PARENTS of two year-old Noah Watts say their son wouldn’t be alive today if it wasn’t for Mater Hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

Born 10 weeks premature and weighing less than 1100g, Noah suffered from severe chronic lung disease and still has to use a feeding tube to survive.

Mother Kimberley wasn’t able to cuddle her son until nine days after birth and father Shaune had to wait 18 days.

“He was on oxygen 24/7 for about six months but you don’t want all of his energy going into breathing, just surviving; you wanted him to also grow,” Mr Watts said.

“He was still about two weeks behind all the way through from where he should have been.”

After 10 weeks in hospital he was almost given the all-clear to go home.

“He slowly moved from the intensive care section, which they call the NICU, all the way through to special care,” Mr Watts said.

“Then a couple of days before he was due to come home, they found he had a hernia and he had a double hernia operation.

“The whole experience is something you wouldn’t wish on anyone.”

Since then the Watts have devoted themselves to fundraising for the Mater Hospital and their latest efforts are for two more NICU cots.

“From what I understand they have a full house in there all the time; over 80 babies,” Mr Watts said of Mater Hospital.

A Courier-Mail Right to Information investigation revealed earlier this month Queensland was suffering from a shortage of NICU cots. A report from the neonatal chiefs of Royal Brisbane and Women’s and Mater hospitals showed they were struggling to keep up with daily demand and 20 more NICU cots were needed across the state.

Mr Watts has already raised more than $12,000 from a charity golf day but said the cots cost $6900 each.

He is hoping to raise more money at a charity High Tea at The Summit Restaurant at Mt Coot-tha on July 14 between 3pm and 5pm.

For more information, [e-mail] or 0432 104 794.

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