My Story

On the 23rd March 2023, we experienced the biggest shock of our lives that no parents should ever have to go through. Our four week old baby boy, Louis, went from having some tummy trouble to being blue-lighted in the middle of the night from our local hospital to St George’s in London. He had rapidly developed septic shock and needed a life-saving operation fast. 

Louis had been deteriorating for hours before our eyes in our local hospital while we sat in excruciating anguish waiting for a bed space somewhere with a paediatric intensive care unit (PICU). St George’s was the only hospital that accepted Louis in our time of desperate need; many other children’s hospitals refused to take him, due to lack of beds, and that is why we are forever grateful to St George’s and know how important raising money is for their crucial charity.

Louis went on to spend three weeks in the PICU and had two further life-saving operations within that time, after he developed complications from his first surgery to create a stoma. The hospital saved his life. Countless times.

All the PICU staff, nurses, HCAs, doctors and consultants, worked tirelessly to keep our baby alive and we now want to raise as much money as we possibly can for them. In his initial stay, after PICU, Louis went on to spend two weeks on a surgical ward at St George’s and has since been readmitted to their care multiple times for treatment. 

The PICU currently has 10 bed spaces in its main unit and 4 further spaces in its step down unit. We want to raise money so that they can fund vital refurbishments to the unit, to provide more beds for sick children as no child or family should have to wait for a bed in the way that we did on that horrific night. The PICU also only has two rooms for parents to stay in and the campaign we are raising money for intends to improve facilities for parents too. At times in Louis’ initial stay, we were allowed to sleep in a hospital bed on another children’s ward that cared for day patients just so we could be close to our son in case of emergencies overnight - which sadly did happen lots of times. The money we’re raising will help support parents and children at St George’s. 

Tom, Louis’ dad, is taking on the monumental challenge of running the London Marathon in 2024. It won’t be an easy task and every penny raised will spur Tom on, as will the memories of Louis’ time at St George’s.

Louis still has his stoma and has more operations and investigations in his future. Watching our son go through this every day highlights how strong and insprirational he is to us. He is a warrior. The marathon was always something Tom felt was too difficult to achieve but, with Louis as motivation, with the doctors and nurses as motivation and the countless other parents and children that will benefit from the fundraising as motivation, it makes this more achievable than we thought possible! 

We want to promote the fantastic work that St George’s provides. We will be so grateful for anything you can donate to the amazing cause of St George’s Hospital Charity. Please help St George's continue to save lives. Please donate what you can. 

Thank you so much.

Vicky and Tom Beazley.