Sonny’s Legacy – Funding an EEG Machine in PICU

For Caroline and Neil, continuing Sonny’s Legacy is a way of keeping the memory of their beautiful son close, whilst helping children being treated in the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit in Scotland’s busiest children’s hospital.

“He was a happy charismatic little boy who loved life and loved reaching out to people. You’d take him to cafes, and he would smile at other people and wave at them. He wanted to connect with people. He was everything.”

Caroline, Sonny’s Mum

Sonny was rushed to the emergency department in March 2024 and was later admitted to the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) with Invasive Pneumococcal Disease. Tragically, he died just a few days later. His family are now paying tribute to Sonny with a new Electroencephalogram (EEG) Machine, after raising over £19,000 for Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity.

Caroline and Neil launched the fundraiser after parents from Sonny’s nursery raised more than £1,000 for Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity in his name.

“The staff from his nursery came to see us and they’d raised £1,000 in cash. Then we started the JustGiving page, we didn’t expect it to do as well as it did, but it just kept building and building.”

Caroline and Neil, Sonny’s parents

The money raised has funded a new EEG Machine for the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit in the Royal Hospital for Children, which will be vital in helping to monitor the brain waves of patients.

“PICU are such an important part of this story. All the doctors and nurses looked after Sonny with such love and care. It was absolutely phenomenal.

“We’re just so grateful to them for looking after him the way they did. It’s going to stay with me for the rest of my life."

Caroline and Neil, Sonny’s Mum and Dad

Dr Alastair Turner, who cared for Sonny, explained how important the equipment will be for critically ill children:

“We’ve got lots of machines that measure things like the heart, the lungs, the kidneys, but trying to assess how a brain works is quite difficult. We’re reliant on things like CT scans, which can only give you single snapshots. Because of the nature of the illnesses of our patients, they’re often on medications that will either heavily sedate them or stop them from moving, which makes it much more difficult to interpret what’s going on inside the brain. This EEG machine will give us an actual window into the brain which will help us look after patients better.”

Unlike CT scans, the EEG machine can monitor patients for longer periods of time and allow staff in PICU to assess treatment in real time. The machine can also be accessed remotely, allowing medical professionals from other specialist departments to offer support and guidance to staff on treatment from afar.

The EEG machine is now in use PICU and has been dedicated to Sonny.

“Sonny is a superhero, he saved people’s lives through organ donation and that’s a part of his legacy. There’s a little girl in London who got Sonny’s heart and an older lady who got his kidneys.We’re still in a place where we can’t really think beyond each day and everything is difficult, but we want to build his legacy.  The organ donation and the EEG machine are part of that. We don’t want people to forget him.”

Caroline

Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity is incredibly grateful to Sonny’s family and their community for their generosity in funding this vital piece of equipment, which now stands as a lasting tribute to a very special little boy.