Improving the Quality of Life for Children

Thank you for your support of Sparks, helping to fund pioneering children’s medical research that aims to  find better diagnoses, treatments and cures for a range of conditions affecting babies, children and mums-to-be.

To ensure that Sparks makes the biggest impact over the next five years, one of our research priorities is to fund research aimed at better understanding, predicting and preventing premature birth.

Kiki and Nico

The birth of a child should be a magical time for Mum and Dad. However, this isn’t always the case. Andrea and Paul went through a tough and scary time for the birth of their twin girls Kiki and Nico. At 20 weeks into her pregnancy, Andrea’s placenta ruptured and she was told her twin girls were unlikely to survive.

“When you are first told you are having twins it is a shock – but then when you think you might lose them your world comes crashing down” Andrea, Kiki and Nico’s Mum

Andrea tells us “It was a very tough pregnancy. I had the stress of potentially losing the girls and I was away from my children and family, having to spend two months in hospital constantly bleeding and having regular blood transfusions. I was told I could go home for Christmas but I didn’t make it, as I went into labour on Christmas Eve”.

Thankfully both babies were delivered safely 10 weeks prematurely. Kiki had clubfoot and chronic lung disease and had to spend 84 days in the Special Care Baby Unit. Now aged five, both are happy healthy children who have started school.

“Without medical research and knowledge gained in the past, our twins’ treatment could have been completely different. Now our babies can look forward to a near normal life at home with us.” Andrea and Paul, Kiki and Nico’s parents.

Thank you - With supporters like you, we are able to fund innovative research to help children like Kiki and Nico have the best possible start in life.   

Links:

• Click here to find out more about our research
• Find out how to get involved with Sparks here