When nine-day-old Daisy fell ill, Devon Air Ambulance responded swiftly. Her parents fundraised their thanks with flowers!
During a routine midwife visit, nine-day old Daisy became seriously unwell. Daisy was presenting with cold and flu like symptoms and her parents, RJ and Becky, noticed her breathing had become too shallow with long pauses between each breath. Upon inspection during the midwife’s visit, they discovered that Daisy had lost weight, and her feet were beginning to turn blue. Their midwife immediately called 999.
Two land ambulances arrived and immediately began treating Daisy but initially, it did not seem like she was responding to the treatment. When our crew arrived with a doctor on board, the decision was made to transport Daisy to Plymouth’s Derriford Hospital via a land ambulance with our doctor travelling with her.
RJ, Becky, and Daisy spent time on the High Dependency Unit at the hospital with Daisy being treated for Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) – a virus which causes a common cold and in the worst cases can infect the lungs and breathing passages, causing breathing problems in infants and young children. RJ said:
I already supported Devon Air Ambulance before Daisy needed them, but we wanted to say thank you somehow and give back.”
RJ and Bex decided to raise money through a wildflower picking field at their Loddiswell Farm Shop & Café.
Here, customers were invited to explore the field and pick beautiful wildflowers with optional donations in the shop and café for Devon Air Ambulance. They said:
We still can’t quite believe how many people visited, or how much was raised, never did we think when we planted those seeds how well it would take off!”
Devon Air Ambulance holds a special place in RJ’s and Bex’s hearts and they were delighted to be able to give something back to the amazing team that helped Daisy. In total the wildflower picking raised an amazing £1,000 for Devon Air Ambulance.
RJ and Bex plan to raise money through the wildflower field again in 2024, but this time they will be raising money for their own on-site defibrillator due to their remote location. What a great idea!
Thank you RJ and Bex for fundraising for us and for sharing yours and Daisy’s story with us. We wish you the absolute best in the future!
Devon Air Ambulance is a charity that is independent of government funding and it’s thanks to our supporters that we can respond to babies like Daisy when we’re needed.
