Plymouth Hospitals Charity fundraiser Ryan Lucassi has reached his £1,000 target for the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Derriford Hospital.
Ryan and his wife Gemma had a difficult journey before the birth of their baby boy, and sadly Gemma experienced five miscarriages and an ectopic pregnancy.
On April 6, the pair welcomed their new born baby Sebastian ten weeks early, just after the UK had entered lockdown due to Covid-19.
The new family received care on the NICU at Derriford Hospital, and now Ryan is raising funds for the unit to give back to the staff who supported them during their pregnancy. With the COVID-19 pandemic hampering the usual fundraising ideas, new dad Ryan had to get creative in his bid to raise money NICU.
Ryan started growing his beard at the beginning of November and bleached it white just before Christmas. Ryan sported the Santa beard until Boxing Day after a total of nine weeks growing it – the same amount of time he and his wife, Gemma spent in NICU with their son, Sebastian.
“We spent nine weeks with these angels after our son was born 10 weeks early weighing 3lbs,” said Ryan. “We will be eternally grateful for the love, care and support we received.”
