28 October 2021

A family who spent six weeks on the neonatal unit in 1999 returned to visit neonatal nurses who cared for them 22 years earlier. 

Steve and Sara Kaufman were expecting their first child when Sara started to suffer with pre-eclampsia and it was decided that they would need to deliver the baby early at 31 weeks.

Their baby boy Luke was born via c-section weighing just 2lb10oz and was taken to Frimley Park Hospital’s Special Care Baby Unit to be looked after. He stayed on the unit for the first 6 weeks of his life where he was intubated to help support his airway.

During his time on the unit Luke made fantastic progress and was able to go home without oxygen at 6 weeks old.

Fast forward 22 years and Luke is celebrating his graduation from Portsmouth University with a degree in Palaeontology and has begun his teacher training with the hopes of becoming a secondary school chemistry teacher.

This week Luke and his parents took a trip to visit the unit to meet with Sam Moore, one of the specialist nurses who cared for Luke, and Miss Anne Deans, the consultant gynaecologist who looked after mum Sara before and after the birth of Luke.

Miss Deans said: “It’s fantastic to have families come back and visit the team after all this time. This is the part that we very rarely get to see and it’s just amazing to see what these tiny babies go on to do”.

Steve Kaufman added “Luke has been the healthiest of our three children, most years having 100% attendance at school and never catching coughs and colds – we’re sure it’s a testament to the amazing care he received at Frimley!”

Sara and Steve were amazed by how far technology had come in the last 22 years in a visit around the unit and were impressed to see that some of the incubators were still the same as the ones that were there during their stay.

During their visit the Kaufman family kindly donated £1000 to the Little Stars Frimley Health Charity appeal. The unit will use this money to fund a new laryngoscope, a piece of equipment that helps intubate premature babies, and something that would have been used to help Luke all those years ago.

Luke holding the cardigan he went home from the hospital in. (L-R: June Swanton – Matron for Paediatrics and Neonates, Sara Kaufman, Luke Kaufman, Miss Anne Deans – Consultant Gynaecologist, Steve Kaufman, Sam Moore – Specialist Neonatal Outreach Nurse.)