Lurgan parents of baby Bobby, who only lived two days, running Country Music night in aid of Children's Heartbeat Trust and Children’s Health Foundation, Crumlin
and live on Freeview channel 276
Mum Shannon and her new husband Jamie O'Neill revealed their heartbreaking journey after finding out that their baby had heart problems at Craigavon Hospital’s antenatal clinic via their 20 week scan.
Shannon revealed: “We were transferred to the Royal Victoria Hospital to be seen by Fetal Cardiology and Fetal Medicine. When visiting Fetal Cardiology we were seen by Dr Grant who diagnosed our baby with Tetralogy of Fallot with absent pulmonary valve.
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"We had continuous appointments with him during the pregnancy to see if anything was changing. Everything was staying the same. We went to see Fetal Medicine in which they offered us to get a amniocentesis test – to see whether the child had any syndromes. At this point our baby had a 50% chance of having digeorge syndrome due to the extensive heart problems. We went through with all that and every test result came back clear which give us high end hopes. No syndromes whatsoever.
"We were planned to be induced two weeks early due to me having type 1 diabetes which sometimes means we can have bigger babies. So I got induced at 38 weeks and 4 days. I ended up getting a c-section as there was no movement.
"Bobby was born at 8lb 4oz on 1st March 2022 at 5.19am. He was brought straight to neonatal intensive care as he couldn’t breathe on his own. This is when Belfast Royal Victoria Hospital told us they couldn't help us.
"So we got him transferred to Our Lady’s Children's Health Hospital in Crumlin. They brought him down for a three hour surgery and this is when they found out the lung arteries hadn't formed properly. Therefore he could never breathe on his own.
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Hide Ad"Our baby grew his wings on 3rd March at 9.20am. We got to spend a whole night with him before turning machines off which give us great comfort and we are forever thankful.
"They did everything they possibly could have done. Children’s Heartbeat Trust from Belfast also set us up with accommodation in Dublin for our forever long stay. However we ended up not needing it after all,” said Shannon.
Shannon and her husband Jamie O’Neill are running a charity walk in aid of the Children’s Heartbeat Trust on Saturday 18th February, 10am from the South Lake Leisure Centre around Craigavon Lakes.
It will be followed by a Grand Charity Night in the Ashburn Hotel in Lurgan on Friday 24th February. The show starts at 9pm with a stella country music line up including artists like Johnny Brooks, fiddler Adam, Country Harmony, Kevin Kearney, Sophie Taylor & Rachel McConnell.
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Hide AdThere will also be a raffle with some great prizes to be won.
Shannon said: “It is all in aid of Children's Heartbeat Trust and Children’s Health Foundation, Crumlin. We couldn't have got through it without them both. I would like to give a special mention to the Fetal Cardiology Unit, Dr Grant and Dr Sands and Fetal Medicine Unit in the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast. They were amazing also. As was Féileacáin (Stillbirth and Neonatal Death Association of Ireland).”