He’s a lively, cheeky youngster all ready to celebrate his third birthday.
But life began as a struggle for Lindley toddler Jared Horsfall who had to undergo many months of specialist treatment after being born prematurely at just 24 weeks.
For the first month of his life, Jared was cared for in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at Hull Women and Children’s Hospital. While mum Sarah was able to stay in Hull, dad Sam faced a 148-mile round trip commute to visit Jared at weekends.
Jared’s main challenges were related to him being extremely premature and the resulting lack of development of his lungs and respiratory system.
What followed was six months of spending time at Hull and – after that – at the NICUs at Leeds General Infirmary and Sheffield Children’s Hospital and the special care baby unit at Calderdale Royal Hospital in Halifax.
Thanks to his strength and tenacity, Jared slowly and gradually worked his way from requiring a ventilator to receiving Continuous Positive Airway Pressure therapy and high flow oxygen to eventually coming home on lowflow/home oxygen. Jared came off oxygen completely in March, 2016, and is no longer in need of constant care.
Sam said Jared’s condition had “caught us cold.”
He said: “We were in the process of getting things ready for Jared’s arrival, getting the nursery ready, when all of a sudden it was ‘all hands on deck’ because he was on the way and we had a whole series of different challenges.
“It completely caught us cold. You have a general idea of what things are going to be like and you know about some of the complications that can come up, but you aren’t ready for this extreme prematurity and what it involves.”
Having put in the miles to be with Jared during his lengthy stays in hospital, Sam is taking on a 100-mile “Go the Distance” challenge to raise money for Bliss, the premature and sick baby charity which provided support for him and Sarah.
Sam, 27, a regular runner, is ticking off the miles by running from his home to his workplace at the University of Huddersfield, where he is a student guidance and support officer.
He plans to run the final six miles when he takes part in the Sheffield 10K on September 24. Sarah, 29, is also raising funds for Bliss and will take part in the Manchester Half Marathon in October.
Sam said Jared, who will be three in November, was now a “healthy, happy and very cheeky little boy.” He added: “Not a day goes by where we are not thankful and appreciative of just how lucky we have been. I will never forget the support that Bliss provided to us during a very difficult time and I would now like to give something back.”
To donate to Sam’s 100-mile challenge, go to gothedistance.everydayhero.com/uk/sam
