Craig Stephen Calvert

craig was a fantastic little boy who unfortunately suffered with cystic fibrosis, throughout his short life he was in and out of hospital seriously ill a couple of times. Even when he was really poorly he still smiled that gorgeous smile that lit up the room!his eyes were the most gorgeous shade of blue, we called him little bright eyes!! He was amazing!!

When craig was born, he was absolutely perfect! at 4 weeks old he had a bad chest and the local hospital thought he had bronchitis. At 8 weeks i was told that it was actually Cystic Fibrosis! i wasnt that worried cos a girl i grew up with had it an now she has a baby her self and she is ok!!so i assumed craig would be as well!!after a brief trip to the RVI in newcastle we were transferred to james cook hospital in middlesborough, everyone there were great and after a few days getting used to his treatment and medication i took him home! it was bliss!unfortunately that only lasted a few days as he suddenly started struggling for breath an kept going a funny grey colour!! After a while the brilliant dr hampton from JC decided it would be better if craig was in intensive care as a precaution. i feared the worst but after a few days he was well enough to go back onto the ward, not home though :( he would get home for a couple of hours here and there but then he would take a bad turn again so i would have to take him straight back. Dr Hampton then decided she wanted a doctor an the rvi to take a look at him! No one could understand why he was so poorly all the time because kids with CF just dont react like that!

Eventually they found that craig had an eventration of his diaphram which means one side of it was not working properly and looked like it had a lump under it!

craig was allowed home on christmas eve but only managed to last until dinner time on boxing day! we were transferred back to the RVI where the doctors decided to repair his diaphram and put a feeding tube into his tummy as he wasnt putting weight on or feeding properly. After the succesful op he was in intensive care just in case but the next day he took a really bad turn and was put onto a ventilator and then moved to the freeman intensive care unit!they were going to try a procedure called ecmo but decided against it at the last minute as they didnt think it would benefit craig he was then taken to newcastle general! craig was passed around to try and find out what was wrong, we knew he had cf but he was just too poorly!

Once he was off the ventilator we had a bit of hope that maybe he would be ok because we had been told to prepare for the worst because craig was so unpredictable!!

the doctor at the RVI said that craig had a congenital lung disease as well as his cf, on their own those 2 things would have been ok but together they were really bad.

he got to come home in the middle of january we were over the moon!! unfortunately it didnt last!! on the 29 of jan i had to take him back to the rvi as he had an infection around his feeding tube! a quick course of antibiotics would sort that wouldnt it??? WRONG!

craig started to really struggle again!thank god we were at the hospital at the time, he couldnt feed and breathe at the same time so we had to rely on his tube constantly! Eventually the doc at the rvi decided that he wanted him transferring back to newcastle general intensive care to put him onto a ventilator to give his poor body a break! after being there for 2 days the doctor i liked the most Dr O'brien (i didnt like him at first he was really horrible) came to see me! i knew as soon as i saw him something wasnt right an it was then that he told me there was nothing more they could do for craig!i was on my own so he said i could wait til my parents got there for him to tell me but living an hour away from newcastle there was just no way i could have waited that long knowing he wanted to talk to me, i was devestated and phoned round all my friends and family to come straight through to the hospital! Im suprised there wasnt a few speeding tickets given out that day!!!

While we were still at the general i got craig christened!i had had to cancel it 3 times cos he was always too ill to go to it!!

the doctor asked me where i wanted craig to die!i didnt want him to die at all! i knew i didnt want him to go in newcastle so on friday the 16th of feb we took him to James Cook, still on the ventilator! me and my friend tasha sat with him all night. the nurses kept trying to get us to sleep but how could we knowing craig wouldnt be there the next night??they were all really lovely to us and kept bringing coffee, talking when we needed to an leaving us alone when we asked them to!!

The next day all my family, dad mam and brothers peter ross and stephen all came while they turned the machine off! Dr hampton didnt know how long it would take so we took him to the room he was in everytime he was back at JC room 12 on ward 21!! while we were there some of my family came up just to say goodbye to our beautiful baby, that meant alot, when he actually died there were loads of people there, just what i needed,me, dad, mam, peter, ross, stephen,tash, sarah,pat, fiona and dr hampton and uncle steve auntie carol an our jane, im glad they were there cos at the moment craig died i was laughing so that really upset me but my uncle steve said "thats how craig wanted to go, he didnt want you to be crying or sat waiting for him to die" "he did that just for you his mammy" As bad as it sounds that saturday,17th feb, was the most beautiful day of my life, we laughed we cried and we hugged craig!!At 6:05 pm craig took his last breath laid in my arms!!i just screamed because even though i was waiting for it, i think deep down i hoped it wouldnt happen, i hoped the docs would be proved wrong and he would smile that smile again.

when word got round that craig had died Loads of people sent flowers and cards and went to his funeral!!the service was lovely, i said a piece about how craig made me feel and what he was like!the church was packed out, It was so good to know that he had touched so many peoples lives!!

Craig was amazing and he will live on in everyone who knew him now and forever!!!i miss him so much but i know he couldnt cope with any more pain so it was better to let him go, he was hurting so bad it wasnt fair! he still smiled that smile tho until a few days before it happened!!

Sleep Tight my darling angel until i can hold u again in my arms!!

Love you
xxxxxxx