In 2011 our beautiful baby boy, Finnan Maximus Camplin-Warner, passed away from a Congenital Heart Disease. To help ease the pain and to honour our courageous son, the Finnan's Gift project was setup to thank and provide ongoing support to the amazing team of doctors and nurses at The Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne (RCH).
To be honest, we were absolutely stunned when we were told our first baby was going to be born with a congenital heart disease.
We simply didn't know that 1 in every 100 babies born in Australia suffer from this disease, with many requiring multiple surgeries throughout childhood to survive.
In Finnan's case, 6 operations over the first 10 days of his life, was not enough to save him.
As parents, we know we did everything we could possibly do for our son and feel indebted to everyone at The Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne for their care, compassion and communication.
Finnan's Gift has given us a way to say thank you, stay connected, and help other little babies and their families have a greater chance of enjoying a quality life.
It takes a very driven community to improve the world, and Finnan's Gift has been a wonderful way for us to share in and experience the power of giving.
The sheer number of people who have already contributed to Finnan's Gift has truly kept us afloat and we dearly hope that people will continue to support the annual Finnan's Gift Grant with new donations and fundraising projects.
Every year on Finnan's birthday a grant will be made to a different department of the RCH who helped in Finnan's care.
One year the Finnan's Gift Grant might help an upcoming surgeon, the next year it might provide something special for patients, or perhaps fund research, buy equipment or assist with further education or counseling services.
Finnan's Gift Grants will focus on excellence in leadership and education, technology and equipment, and medical research that directly improves support for patients and their families.
