A premature baby born the size of his mother’s palm and given just a 30 per cent chance of survival is in hospital 200 miles away from his loved ones.
Tiny Caspar Richards was born at 24 weeks gestation, weighing just 685 grams, reports CornwallLive.
The youngster, whose mum Gemma Richards calls her little “Iron Man” is getting stronger by the day and can now breathe without a ventilator.
But having been transferred to a specialist unit hundreds of miles away from home his father Gareth Richards, 33, and siblings, Lizzie, seven, Tyler, five, and Oscar, two, haven’t had a chance to meet him.
Gemma is now fundraising in the hope that she can arrange for the rest of her family to visit the tot.
"I have managed to get a room sorted out for me but more than anything I just want to get my other children up here," she said.
"Because of Covid, I'm not allowed to have them here with just me so me and my husband have to swap and take turns, but he's not even held Casper yet and he's 28 days old."
Gemma went in to Royal Cornwall Hospital , in Truro, for what she thought would be a check-up after experiencing some bleeding, something that had happened with all three of her previous pregnancies.
Upon examination, doctors told her she had an infection which could be passed on to her unborn child and that the safest option would be to deliver him immediately.
The next thing the 27-year-old remembers is waking up in Bristol with her tiny baby lying in an incubator, hooked up to a ventilator to help him breathe, while she was fending off a severe infection.
Gemma, of Constantine, near Falmouth, gave birth to Casper 16 weeks early at Derriford Hospital , Plymouth, on May 4.
He was born the size of her palm and was so unwell that he had to be transferred to Bristol while Gemma was put in an induced coma because of the infection.
"Everything happened so fast and to be honest I don't really remember much of it, it's all been a blur," Gemma said.
"All I know is what people have been telling me. The hospital visit basically confirmed I had an infection and that at any minute that could pass onto Casper.
"So, I went from thinking everything was probably fine to a specialist team telling me it would be safer for the baby to come out than be in."
After Casper was born, doctors warned that he only had around a 30 per cent chance of survival.
Then things took a turn for the worse after it was revealed that he needed emergency surgery to have some of his bowel removed and a stoma fitted.
It meant the newborn would have to spend an additional eight to twelve weeks in hospital in Bristol, with the family unable the costs or traveling and accommodation to visit.
But despite the odds given, Gemma says her "iron man" has been fighting hard and the family are hopeful he will soon be transferred back to Plymouth to be closer to them.
"Our plan was to get accommodation and keep swapping places and hopefully the kids will be able to meet their brother soon,” she said.
"My main concern is obviously Casper. That is all I do care about right now and I want him to get better. Hopefully soon the surgery will be reversed, and his bowel can be reattached. We're going to find out more in the time to come but right now we just take it day by day.
"He's strong though and he was actually able to breathe for a time on his own which absolutely nobody was expecting. He was given a 30% chance survival at one stage and then fortunately by the time we got to Bristol it was increased to 65 per cent.
Casper is still in an incubator on a neonatal intensive care unit in Bristol Hospital - almost 200 miles away from home – and Gemma is now desperately trying to fund accommodation via an appeal on GoFundMe so that her husband Gareth and their other children can see him.
"We really do just want to thank anyone who has helped us so far with this, we are just so grateful and we really want to be together,” she added.
