Held Close: Coran's Story

When Jaclyn and Grant learned at their 20-week scan that their baby boy Coran wasn’t growing as expected, the weeks that followed were filled with uncertainty.

They attended weekly appointments with the fetal medicine team, where doctors closely monitored Coran’s growth and the blood flow from the placenta. The family were warned that he was extremely small and that every extra week of pregnancy would make a difference.

"We were told we needed to get to 28 weeks. If Coran was born before then, he would be too small to be intubated."

By 27 weeks, Jaclyn and Grant were preparing for Coran to arrive. They were given a tour of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and shown what to expect, while Jaclyn received steroid injections to help prepare their baby’s lungs for an early birth.

Just two days before her planned caesarean section, tests showed that the blood flow from the placenta had reduced further and it was no longer safe for Jaclyn to go home.

Coran was born at Wishaw Hospital on 6 October 2021 – exactly 12 weeks before his due date. He weighed just 830g – 1lb 13oz.

After five days, Coran was well enough to be transferred to Glasgow, where he continued his neonatal care. Altogether, he would spend 78 days in NICU and the Special Care Baby Unit before finally going home.

Alongside his medical care, charity-funded support helped Jaclyn, Grant and Coran stay connected as a family during those long weeks in hospital.

Through Held Close, Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity is raising funds to help more neonatal families benefit from the thoughtful extras, practical support and precious moments that can mean so much when their baby is in hospital.

For Coran’s family, that included charity-funded Miniboos, which they used every day – taking one home to carry their scent before swapping it for another to stay beside their tiny baby.

When Jaclyn celebrated her birthday shortly after Coran was born, neonatal staff gave her a card from her baby boy. The family also received seasonal gifts and created a precious Little Inky Feet keepsake of Coran’s tiny footprints.

"It stands proudly in our living room as a reminder of how small he was."

Jaclyn expressed milk for Coran throughout his neonatal stay. Although he didn’t need donor milk himself, she went on to donate more than 30 litres of her own milk to the milk bank, helping other vulnerable babies and their families.

"Before this was my experience, I knew nothing about NICU. After having a healthy, full-term pregnancy with my first son, I never imagined this could happen to us."

On 23 December, after 11 weeks in hospital, Coran was finally able to go home to mum Jaclyn, dad Grant and big brother Nate. He weighed 3lb 9oz.

There would still be some difficult moments ahead. Coran needed two further stays at the Royal Hospital for Children because of respiratory problems.

But as the months passed, his family watched him grow stronger.

"We didn’t know what to expect with Coran’s health and had prepared ourselves for possible bumps in the road, but thankfully he has come through it and shown us how strong and how much of a fighter he really is."

Today, after such an uncertain start to life, Coran is almost five, has just started school and has no major health concerns.

As Coran grew, Jaclyn and Grant wanted to give something back. In 2023, they marked the anniversary of his homecoming on 23 December with a sponsored walk around his favourite local park. After raising far more than they expected, the walk has become an annual family tradition supporting Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity.

For Jaclyn, supporting neonatal families matters because she knows how suddenly life can change.

"Being a preemie parent or a parent of an unwell child is a club that no one wants to be in. Many people can’t imagine what the experience is like. You don’t think it will happen to you until it does."

And for families currently facing their own neonatal journey, she has one piece of advice:

"You can only think about today and the progress each day. You can’t get tied up worrying about the future and what it will look like. These babies are superheroes, and they show us just how strong we can be."

By supporting Held Close, you can help Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity be there for neonatal babies and their families – funding the practical support and precious moments that help keep families close through some of the most uncertain days of their lives.