The baby you see in the image above is Otis. He arrived at Starship hospital eleven weeks early. His mum Sam remembers how relieved she felt when she heard his little cry. He was alive. She says...

“I wasn’t scared...I knew he was in the best place he could be” .

But he wasn’t out of the woods yet. Otis needed urgent specialist treatment, or there was a chance he wouldn’t survive.

Thanks to a dedicated team of Starship experts, Otis didn’t just survive. Today, he’s a healthy six-year old boy living a full and active life. Here’s a picture of him (giving thumbs up!) and his older brother George.

All up, Otis spent three months with breathing support. It helped him develop into the healthy boy you can see above when, at birth, his life was in serious danger.

Today, I’m asking you to help us save the lives of more critically ill babies.

Some newborns struggle to breathe when they’re born. Some, like Otis, spend weeks breathing with help from a ventilator. 

There are special cases when babies need more than just a ventilator, too. 

Some babies get ‘pulmonary hypertension’ during birth. They develop high blood pressure in the arteries to their lungs, and their little bodies can’t get enough oxygen. They need a delicate balance of nitric oxide gas in their ventilator to help them absorb oxygen. This helps them avoid permanent brain, lung or heart damage.

CLICK HERE TO HELP PROVIDE EMERGENCY BREATHING TREATMENT

When our NICU staff use nitric oxide, it is literally a matter of life and death for the baby. We’re asking for your help to purchase a modern system to deliver this life-saving gas.

The machines we currently use for this task have reached the end of their life cycle. The machine you can see below is an ‘Aeronox 2.0’ machine.

This machine will help more Starship babies avoid long-term brain, lung, and heart problems. In many cases, it will help save their lives. 

It automates much of the gas delivery process, is fully alarmed, and has a crystal-clear display to help our staff working in pressure situations. 

Overall, this machine is safer, more flexible, and much easier to use than our present system. 

Right now, NICU needs three more of these machines to ensure we can continue providing life-saving care for some of our most critically ill babies. 

That’s why I’m asking you for help today.

If you help us fund these machines, you will help us save babies’ lives.

I understand that this might be an uncertain time for you financially. That’s why I’m only asking for you to give as much as you can spare. 

But please understand we will gratefully process any donation you give us. We’d love to get these machines as soon as possible, and use them to save babies’ lives.

You might not work in NICU, but you can help create more happy endings like Otis and Sam’s. And I think you’ll agree that’s something worth supporting.

DONATE NOW

Thank you in advance for your generous support.

Aisha Daji Punga, CEO Starship Foundation