On Monday 04 December 2017 our family suffered a terrible tragedy.

 

Our beautiful son, Connor, fell into a bin we were using to capture water due to the drought in Cape Town and he drowned. Connor was a strong boy and although he had been in the water for a prolonged period, we managed to resuscitate him before he was taken to the Red Cross Children’s Hospital. The next 5 days were a horrible rollercoaster of emotions but one thing remained constant and that was the amazing medical treatment Connor received and the compassion and care we as a family received from the hospital staff. Connor sadly passed away on Saturday 09 December 2017. He would have turned two on 17 February 2018.

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Following his passing I could not stop thinking of some of the things we saw, and the knowledge gained from chatting to staff as well as fellow parents. I felt compelled to give back and to try help in any way I could, and started thinking of how we could do this. Let me put it into perspective - The staff often work 30 hour shifts and yet they never once blew us off when we asked the same question twenty times. They cried with us, prayed with us and treated Connor as if he was the only child in the ward. This was not only applicable to him though, they treated every child as if they were the only child being cared for.

 

On the Friday night before Connor passed away, I watched in amazement as one of the nurses sang to a small baby the entire night. When I finally went to get some sleep at 03h00 she was still softly singing to the baby. The ICU has a 92% survival rate which is unbelievable, but in December they lost 17 children. This would have a profound effect on anyone.  It takes a special person to work under these conditions, and to still do it with the passion and dedication they do is beyond my understanding.

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As a result of my desire to give back I have (with the help of some amazing people) set up a company called the “Just Breathe Initiative” which aims to develop and implement different initiatives and programs to help others to take a deep breath and……“just breathe”