From Berlin to Croydon: Supporting neonatal care for premature twins | News

Max and his mother, Amy recently revisited the neonatal unit to see first-hand the positioning aids they had bought from Amy’s marathon efforts to support the unit. 

Amy Mighalls, Neurology Physiotherapist ran the Berlin marathon in September 2024 to thank the teams who cared for her and partner Andrew’s premature twin son (Max) and daughter (Maude) who were born at 25 weeks and 2 days old.  Amy felt it was important to give back to those that helped them on their journey. Tragically Maude passed away on the 11.12.23. Max is now 2 years old and is doing well after 134 days in hospital.

 

A massive £3,487 was raised and was divided between Croydon Health Charity with funds going to the neonatal unit and First Touch at St George’s Hospital.

The photos below were taken during his admission to Croydon February 2024. Alison and Amy had many conversations regarding the importance of effective positioning.

 

Alison Boulton, Neonatal Physiotherapist commenced in post November 2023 and has been reviewing positioning. She was keen to introduce fluidised positioning aids for high-risk babies for babies born below 32 weeks gestation and or weighing less than 1500g. The purpose of the aids is to minimise head shape difficulties and support neurodevelopmental outcomes. Aids alongside teaching, audit and attention to care with positioning can help to minimise the long thin head shape which historically has been associated with premature babies. These aids were not available during Max’s admission. 

With the support from Amy and Max these are now being introduced. Amy is continuing to support implementation by consenting to the use of photographs of Max to support training. Thank you, Amy, and Max.. your support will make a big difference to new premature babies admitted to the unit and is very much appreciated.