Baby who spent entire life in hospital finally goes home

A baby born at just 24 weeks has finally gone home with his parents after spending the first year and a half of his life in hospital.

Bertie Melly weighed just 1lb 10 oz (745g) when he was born at St Thomas' Hospital in May 2024, after his mum, Phoebe, went into early labour due to a suspected E. coli infection.

Bertie was diagnosed with necrotising enterocolitis, known as NEC. It is a serious condition that causes a baby's intestines to become inflamed and can cause certain parts of the intestine to die.

Bertie needed emergency surgery to his bowel at just 10 days old, and has undergone a further 4 operations since then.

Phoebe, from Bromley in south east London, said: "I don't think we really knew what was ahead of us. Ignorance is bliss in that situation because we didn't think ahead too much and just took each day as it came."

Bertie spent 6 months in the neonatal intensive care unit, before moving over to Evelina London Children's Hospital, which is located on the same site as St Thomas'.

Phoebe and her husband, Callum, moved into the nearby Ronald McDonald House, which provides a 'home away from home' for the families of children being treated at the hospital.

She said:

The support we received from the Evelina London nurses, particularly overnight, was invaluable.

 

It allowed us to get proper rest and that was important for us to have in order to be present for Bertie every day. They loved having cuddles with Bertie overnight and genuinely cared for him.

 

The play specialists were also fantastic, going above and beyond to support Bertie's development and helping him reach important milestones.

After 547 days of being cared for in hospital, 18-month-old Bertie finally went home.

He currently doesn't eat or drink enough orally so relies on parenteral nutrition – known as PN – which is nutrition in a liquid form given intravenously. His parents have been trained in how to administer it at home.

Phoebe said: "Bertie doesn't know any different and is the happiest baby. We have a way to go before we can wean him off the PN, but the biggest thing for us is being together as a family under one roof.

"He has adapted so well to being home and loves the space to roam around. We absolutely miss the Evelina London staff who were there for us every day and will forever be grateful to them."

Iain Yardley, a consultant paediatric and neonatal surgeon at Evelina London, who was involved in Bertie's care, said: "Bertie has faced many, many challenges in his short life. He and his parents have faced these challenges with extraordinary grace and courage. A huge team at Evelina London have provided the complex care that Bertie has needed. Seeing him go home is what we all have been working for and we could not be more pleased for him and his family."

The Evelina London Children's Hospital building celebrated its 20th anniversary on the same day Bertie went home. When it opened its doors in 2005, it was the first new children's hospital in London for more than 100 years. At the time, around 31,000 babies, children and young people were treated each year. Now the hospital cares for almost 3 times as many patients across London, south east England and further afield.