Freya Breen's memory inspires Arrowe Park Hospital funds

Sep 16 2009 by Matt Hurst, Birkenhead News

Natasha, Leigh and Freya's grandad David

LITTLE Freya Breen lived for just ten days – but her family are now campaigning for specialist equipment currently only available in Liverpool.

Born on June 19 this year at Arrowe Park to proud parents Tasha Breen, 18 and Leigh Duffy, 24, Freya never gained consciousness but had to endure a six-hour journey to transport her to Liverpool Women’s Hospital and the vital cooling system that could have helped her live.

Dad Leigh, from Beechwood, told the News: “Tasha had dilated from two centimetres to nine centimetres so we had to go straight to hospital.

“But when we got to Arrowe Park, they couldn’t get the baby’s heart beat.

“Finally they got a short beat, around 40bpm.

“They had to rush to try ventouse to get the baby out and then she had to be resuscitated for 25 minutes, which starved her of oxygen and left her in a critical condition.”

The only hope for Freya was a cooling system, which operates in a similar way to an ice-pack on a bruise by helping to lower the swelling on the brain.

The system cools the body down for 72 hours and then warms it back up in an incubator.

But the closest available unit is in Liverpool and Tasha and Leigh were left with little choice but to risk Freya’s fragile life on the journey.

She made it to the Women’s Hospital and battled on for a week, before the decision was taken to switch off her ventilator.