Heartbeat: Donation to maternity in memory of baby Callie
June 26, 2019
A Black Country family who sadly lost their little girl Callie (newborn baby) born in 2016 returned to City Hospital this month with two very special surprises to share with the team who had shown them so much compassion in their time of need.
Baby Callie Francine Whitehouse was born on the 1 June 2016 to mom Krystal and dad Matt Whitehouse at 38 weeks, but the joyful moment was shattered when the parents learnt that Callie had a very weak heartbeat. Sadly despite all of the efforts of the team in maternity, Callie passed away shortly after.
In memorial, friends and family rallied together and began a fundraiser for Baby Callie, and within weeks this had topped £2,000. And in remembrance her parents decided that they wanted to make a donation to the maternity department as a thank you for all the support and as a lasting tribute to their beautiful baby daughter.
Making the donation, Krystal shared her thoughts, “As a family we just wanted to say thank you to all the staff, they were amazing and in memory of Callie we wanted to see if there was anything we could do to help make the experience of other parents that much better. The money we’ve donated will go towards making the Jasmine Suite a little more inviting and comfortable, we spent quite a lot of time in there so we would love to make it a little more special for other families.”
Alongside, the surprise donation, Krystal and Matt introduced staff to Etta, their daughter who had been born on Halloween 2017 and delivered by the same midwife who had delivered Callie. Meeting the family again, Bereavement Midwife, Mary Molloy said: “I had the privilege of meeting Callie and supporting Krystal, Matt and family at the most devastating time of their lives.
“We remained in touch and I had the pleasure of supporting Krystal and Matt during their next pregnancy and was delighted to be present at the birth of Callie’s little sister Etta.
“We are very grateful to Krystal and Matt for their very generous donation, which we have spent on making the Jasmine suite more homely for our bereaved families.”