Parents of five-day-old baby who died due to medical errors raise more than £10,000 for new monitors in his memory

The parents of a baby boy who died five days after his birth have raised over £10,000 for the neonatal intensive unit that cared for him.
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

Finnley James Adam Morris was born 'floppy, with no signs of breathing' at Blackpool Victoria Hospital on October 1, 2020, to Adam and Emma Morris.

Doctors carried out ventilation breaths and chest compressions, however, they did not attempt to intubate the newborn until 42 minutes after he was born, when his condition had already become unsurvivable.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Finnley was transferred to the Royal Preston’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit high dependency ward where died on the October 5 2020.

Monitors like these have been boughtMonitors like these have been bought
Monitors like these have been bought

>>>Click here to read about Finnley's dad's fight for justice.

In his memory, and as a thank you to the neonatal team that cared for Finnley, Adam and Emma set up the #FiftyForFinnley challenge, raising £10,300.

Fundraisers were given the challenge to complete 50 kilometres or 50 miles throughout the month of November (2020) in any way the person involved could, be it running, walking, swimming or cycling.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The money raised has enabled Baby Beat at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust to purchase Respiration Monitors for apnoea detection in babies on the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit where premature and sick babies are more at risk of developing apnoea, which is when a baby stops breathing.

Alongside the Morris family’s fundraising challenges, an additional £9,000 has been raised by Baby Beat to fund a total of 30 Respiration Monitors with support from: Springfields Employees Medical Research and Charity Trust Fund; Tesco Bags of Help; Risley Medical Research and Charity Trust Fund; the Shepherd Street Trust; and the Felicity Wilde Charitable Trust.

The Morris family said: “We are extremely proud of the achievements of everyone involved in the #fiftyforfinnley challenge and the money that has been raised in Finnley’s name.

“To know that he will be helping both children and parents alike in their time of need is enormously comforting.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“To have lost our son in such unnecessary and sad circumstances has devastated us to say the least, but to know that there has been some positivity to have come out of our situation for others, and for Finnley to have made his own little legacy, has made us proud beyond words.

“We are truly grateful for everyone that got involved in the challenge or donated and helped to raise money for such a worthy cause.”

Baby Beat Manager, Cathy Skidmore, said: “We would like to wholeheartedly thank the Morris family and friends for their act of generosity in such sad circumstances; it is truly appreciated and will make a really big difference to the babies cared for in the neonatal unit. We are also very grateful to all the trust which, by awarding us grants, have enabled Baby Beat to purchase a total of 30 monitors.”

Inquest

At a four-day inquest into his death in October, coroner Alan Wilson ruled that Finnley would not have died had he not been neglected by doctors, who failed to effectively give him oxygen until it was too late.

The hospital has now apologised to Finnley’s parents for the mistakes made in their baby’s care.

Related topics:

Comment Guidelines

National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.