Family of tot in charity bid for life-saving care

Six-month-old Finley Blakeley was born at Dewsbury and District Hospital nine weeks early.

Weighing just 3lb 8oz, he urgently needed specialist care and was transported by Embrace – the region’s paediatric critical care transport team - to Pinderfields Hospital in Wakefield.

He was discharged home a month later but weeks afterwards, he stopped breathing. His parents resuscitated him twice before he was rushed back to Dewsbury. Doctors worked on him through the night but were unable to insert a tube to aid his breathing as they prepared him for transfer to Leeds General Infirmary.

His father Chris said: “When Embrace arrived, we started to understand exactly what they were capable of. They stepped in, took control of the situation, got the tube in place and within the next couple of hours they had Finley stabilised and ready for transport. Even though Dewsbury were fantastic, what Finley needed was an intensive care team like Embrace, who specialise in saving little babies’ lives.”

He returned home following 11 days in intensive care but four days on, stopped breathing again due to an infection. Embrace was called in again to transfer him to Sheffield Children’s Hospital.

His mother Jenna said: “We can honestly say that if Embrace was not in existence we would not have our little boy today.”

The family are now fund-raising for The Children’s Hospital Charity in Sheffield which has given significant donations to Embrace over the years and are backing the charity’s partnership with the Tour de Yorkshire from May 1-3.