Fundraiser set up for parents of baby with medical issues
MORE than £2,000 has been raised to help a couple whose first child has been born more than three weeks prematurely and with serious medical complications.
Leinina Le Breton and her partner Ciaran Tarraga have been with their son Arlo-Jaxx in Southampton since he was born and with both having to stop work Miss Le Breton’s father, Adrian, decided to set up a fundraiser to help them financially.
‘They’re going to be over there for the duration of Arlo being in hospital,’ he said.
‘But it could be another month or so or maybe longer.’
It was when Miss Le Breton and Mr Tarraga went for a scan at 17 weeks to find the sex of their baby that they discovered he had only one bone in his left forearm.
A visit to a specialist led to a trip to Southampton General Hospital where there was more bad news – the couple were told that the baby had a narrowing of the aorta and a VSD (ventricular septal defect), an abnormal opening in the wall between the main pumping chambers of the heart.
This would need surgery within a week or two of his being born.
Arlo-Jaxx arrived on 15 August weighing 4lb 15oz.
‘Pretty much as soon as he was born he had to have a stoma bag fitted,’ said Mr Le Breton.
This could be resolved in a future operation but he would probably have to have the bag for a year or so.
The family are now waiting for their baby to put on a little more weight before he can have an operation on his heart.
He has been moved out of the neo-natal unit while he waits for the operation, and has been described as ‘a true fighter’.
Mr Le Breton set up a GoFundMe page to help the couple with day-to-day expenses.
‘With the limited funds they have coming in now I thought it would be something that would take a little bit of pressure off of them.’
As well as private individuals donating, the Aid Reaching Children charity has also helped out, with its founder Linda Garnham adding £500 to the fund and taking it past its initial £2,000 target.
Mr Le Breton was delighted at the success of the campaign: ‘We never expected to get this far,’ he said.
n The fundraising page is at www.gofundme.com/helping-my-daughter-and-her-partner
