Generous toy donation from 'caring' couple
A couple hit by the tragic loss of their newborn child have made a generous donation to hospital staff who supported them.
Olya Gribuska and Aabid Hafezi, from Walsall, were celebrating the birth of their twin sons Aayan and Aaryan in October 2016 after the boys were born at 33 weeks.
However, happiness turned to tragedy as Aaryan died from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome just one week after being allowed home.
Now, the couple have returned to the Manor Hospital's neonatal unit and handed over more than £600 worth of soft toys, clothes and nappies as a way of saying thank you to staff.
Olya, 18, said: "We were so happy to have them both home but we lost Aaryan just a short time later which is so very hard for us to cope with.
"It is with us every day and when we look at Aayan we can’t help but think of his baby brother who should be here too.
“We wanted to give something back to the neonatal unit and try and help other parents whose babies are born prematurely and asked for donations through social media, highlighting our story.
"We raised £660 and bought soft toys, clothes, nappies and cotton wool because we thought these would be helpful for the parents on the unit who don’t have time to sort stuff out.
“When our twins were born early we just didn’t want to leave them.
"The clothes are useful because often parents won’t have anything small enough and babies tend to get through a lot of clothes.”
Thanking staff for their care and support, Olya said: “They helped us a lot, not just by answering our questions and worries but by supporting me with feeding as well as it was difficult to cope with two babies.
"I hope other parents benefit from our donation.”
Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust Fundraising Manager Georgie Westley said: “What a caring young couple – thinking of others in such sad circumstances.”
