Man raising money for Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in Southampton

Andrew Morgan is running the London Marathon this year in support of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in Southampton.

Andrew, who works in finance and lives in Winchester with his wife Anna, and two children, Millie, 10, and Oliver, eight, will take on the challenge to thank the team who saved his daughter's life.

In 2021, Andrew and Anna found out they were pregnant.

The pregnancy was "uneventful" and Anna progressed to full term.

Andrew Morgan with his wife Anna and two children Millie, 10, and Oliver, eight.

But one night, Anna started to bleed heavily and they rushed to hospital in Winchester where she was taken straight into theatre and underwent a crash c-section.

She had suffered a placental abruption, where the placenta starts coming away prematurely before the baby is born causing severe blood loss for both the mother and baby.

"At that time, I was in a waiting room on my own, not knowing what was happening," Andrew explained.

"It was terrible. Anna and what I hoped would be my new baby were my entire life and, at that point, I didn’t know if either were going to survive.

"The nurse encouraged me to give our baby a name there and then, I thought this was so that if she died then, she died with a name. I chose Millie."

Millie was in an incubator wearing a cooling jacket.

Millie was transferred to hospital in Portsmouth the next morning to continue the specialist treatment, and the intention was that Anna remained in Winchester to recover.

But soon after Millie left, the new parents were rushed to Portsmouth and feared the worst.

After a few days Millie began to stabilise but things took a turn for the worse.

Millie started to vomit dark green bile, and her abdomen started inflating.

An X-ray showed a perforated bowel, a section of Millie’s gut had died and subsequently perforated.

She was rushed to Southampton's neonatal intensive care unit for a life-saving operation to remove some of her intestine.

Millie age 10.

Andrew said: "After a few days, things started going in the right direction and, although we didn’t know it or believe it after all the knockbacks Millie and ourselves had had, they were to keep going the right direction.

"Today, miraculously the only sign of Millie’s horrific start in life is a scar across her tummy from her surgery.

"We still shake our heads in happy disbelief, and we are so thankful to the many amazing NHS staff who were involved in saving both Millie and Anna’s lives."

To support Andrew in his London Marathon run, visit: www.justgiving.com/fundraising/andrewmorgan2022

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