By Kym Kitching | Head of Fundraising & Partnerships
When Felicite was born, nobody knew she was critically ill. Her mum, Anne-Marie, recently shared their emotional story with us, to help spread awareness of the importance of routine pulse oximetry testing for newborns.
Talking about the moment she realised something was wrong, Anne Marie says, "I thought, Hang on.. she isn’t screaming like my older two would have when not being held. She had cooler hands and looked a bit purpley, too." The midwife came to check her with a pulse oximetry machine, and said her SATS (blood oxygen saturation levels) had been on the lower side earlier, but she was feeding at the time. She wasn’t feeding now, but they were still low. The pulse oximetry machine came from Tiny Tickers. I found this out after the whirlwind of what was to come."
Felicite was diagnosed with persistent pulmonary hypertension (PPHN) and spent a week in intensive care. Thankfully, she's doing really well now. Anne-Marie says, "Tiny Tickers’ equipment, and the clinicians' expertise, truly saved our daughter’s life, and we are forever grateful to you all."
Unfortunately, pulse oximetry screening, which can detect heart and other conditions, still isn't a part of mandatory NHS newborn checks. Our mission is to change that.
We recently placed our 500th pulse oximetry machine. Thousands of newborn babies up and down the UK are now having routine pulse oximetry tests on Tiny Tickers funded machines.
But we won't stop until every baby has the test that could help save their life.
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