Morris

Morris wasn’t even a week old when he needed life-saving surgery. Heather and Mark, his parents, credit the amazing team at Bristol Children’s Hospital with the quality of life Morris has now, a year and a half on. They told us about their journey, and why they’re taking part in this summer’s Great Bristol Run to give back.

“In August 2023, our son Morris was born. From birth, he was producing green sick and couldn’t keep anything down. At our three-day check, our midwife noticed he had lost a lot of weight, so we were admitted to our local hospital in Swindon. 

After overnight treatment for jaundice and other monitoring, it was noticed that Morris’ stomach was distended, which meant it had swollen from the inside, and he had turned grey. Within minutes, he was taken to the Great Western Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, where the consultant told us that Morris was incredibly unwell, and they couldn’t treat him there. 

From that point, everything went so quick. There, we experienced our worst nightmare – our four-day-old baby intubated, on antibiotics, and hooked up to machines. But we soon met the amazing Wales and West Acute Transport for Children (WATCh) team who blue-lighted us to Bristol Children’s Hospital. 

The WATCh team who looked after Morris were so kind. Even though the outlook was poor, they provided such great care while preparing us for every eventuality. Although I was riding up front in the ambulance, I felt like Morris was in very safe hands. They gave Morris a Grand Appeal-funded Wilbur the WATCh teddy bear while he was in the little transfer pod, which he still sleeps with. Details like that, made possible thanks to donations, provide a small comfort in the worst times.   

When we got to Bristol, we went straight to the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) where we met Morris’ incredible surgeon. 

I don’t think we fully grasped how serious the situation was until we got to Bristol and the surgeon sat down with us. He told us Morris had to be operated on right then and that we had to sign a consent form acknowledging that his survival rate was very slim. That was when it fully hit us how dire the situation was. The surgeon was amazing, though – he was sensitive and informative, even when telling us the worst news we could hear. 

After four hours of waiting, we were told that Morris had miraculously survived the surgery but had suffered a rare event called a Spontaneous Neonatal Gastric Perforation. A hole had formed somewhere in his bowel or intestines. The survival rate for this is so low that I’m certain without our surgeon’s incredible skills, Morris wouldn’t have made it. The next day, the nurses informed us that we could have a room in Paul’s House for free, just a stone’s throw away, thanks to The Grand Appeal and the lovely Anne, their Family Accommodation Manager. 

When we entered Paul’s House, we genuinely thought it was too good to be true. We’d spent the first night in ward bunk beds, and seeing the room provided by The Grand Appeal made me cry. Something as seemingly small as having our own bathroom, a TV, a proper bed, and somewhere to store our belongings was an incredible relief. Knowing we could be there as long as we needed and have a small semblance of normal life, thanks to people’s generous donations, is hard to put into words. It just made the biggest difference to our experience. 

One night, we received a call at 3am from the ward saying that Morris had deteriorated and needed a blood transfusion. We were able to be there in minutes. Being across the road from him at these times gave us such peace of mind. Throughout our stay, the amazing nurses in PICU arranged multiple activities for us to have small amounts of time away from the hospital with our other son, Harris, including a funded visit to the Aquarium and the SS Great Britain. These were also made possible through The Grand Appeal. 

During his time in PICU, we became friendly with a few of the other families who were in a similar position as us. It’s heartbreaking to think that when we were there, the beds were pretty much full, the whole time. Although it was a traumatic time, having a sense of camaraderie with other parents made it slightly easier.  

The biggest milestone, we felt, was when he was moved onto a ‘normal’ ward from PICU. When we arrived, doctors didn’t really know how long we would be there. He would need an additional surgery to get to the cause of the bowel obstruction, but we didn’t know when. After a week, we moved to Penguin Ward, where Morris would have his second surgery to correct a malrotation of his bowel. This meant his bowel and intestines weren’t sitting in the right place. The move felt like a big achievement and the nurses celebrated with us, cheering Morris on all the way. 

After this, his recovery was incredible. In total, we spent almost four weeks in hospital with Morris, staying in Paul’s House the whole time.

He is a friendly, stubborn, funny, cheeky boy who loves to make everyone laugh.  

When Morris was first admitted, we genuinely didn’t think we would get to have this time with him.  

So, this year, we chose to take part in the Great Bristol Half Marathon because we wanted to raise money for The Grand Appeal. This felt like the right event for us, and being able to do something so positive in the place where we experienced the worst time of our life felt like a full circle opportunity. 

I’ve had to change my whole perspective on running, though. I am not a natural runner (I actually hate it!), but Mark, my husband, runs every day. He has, however, not run any further than 12km so far, so this will be a big undertaking for us both!  

Please donate whatever you can so Bristol Children’s Hospital and The Grand Appeal are able to help families like ours in their most desperate, vulnerable moments.”