King's Lynn couple show gratitude to Queen Elizabeth Hospital for care of twins

A couple are aiming to raise £1,000 to provide funds for the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) as a thank you for the care given to their twin boys Arlen and Eivin in their first few weeks

Identical twin boys, Arlen and Eivin were delivered at the hospital at just 33 weeks and spent the first 21 days of their lives receiving expert care from the team in NICU.

They supported the boys on their journey from incubators and ventilators, to IVs and tube feeding to learning to breast feed and finally coming home.

They provided encouragement and understanding of the boys treatment to the couple Ashley Thorne, 27, and his partner Kate Butcher, 39, who are from Shouldham Thorpe.

As a way to say thank you for providing such amazing support and for the the lasting gratitude they have for the NICU team, Kate and Ashley will be undertaking a challenge to raise funds and hope to reach £1,000.

They have not got too far to go as they have already raised more than £600.

Proud dad Ashley said: "Our identical twin boys Arlen and Eivin who have recently turned one year old. My boys are extremely rare as they are mono twins, meaning they both shared the same sac and same placenta making them a high-risk pregnancy for my girlfriend Kate.

"During the pregnancy, due to the risk of them being in the same sac, we had to be monitored more at scans between the QE in Lynn and Queen Charlotte’s in London.

"From the start we were told we may have to terminate one to save the other and that there was a likely chance one or both could die inside between scans. As you can imagine a scary time all this while Covid-19 was going on too.

"The boys managed to fight all the odds and were delivered at 33 weeks in Lynn they were 4.7lbs and 4.11lbs and very small they had to spend 21 days on the Neonatal intensive care unit.

"As a thank you to them for the care they gave and saving our boys lives myself and Kate have decided to do the Trekfest Challenge September 18 this year which is 35 miles over the Brecon Beacons and all money raised will be going to the Queen Elizabeth hospital NICU."

Here is a link to the JustGiving page