‘When people are in need, there are always people who will help’

After sadly losing a child, Chris Mealing found a community in Our Bolton NHS Charity, helping to create our beautiful Baby Memorial Garden and providing opportunities for local businesses to make a difference.

“Until you actually go through that as a as a person, you don’t really know how it affects you. It’s hard to describe to people what it feels like.

“You don’t process the emotions, you don’t process anything, and you almost drift along.”

Our Bolton NHS Charity first came into Chris’ life after being elected to our Board of Governors where he found a new focus and felt he was able to make a difference.

Chris became heavily involved in the creation of the Baby Memorial Garden at Royal Bolton Hospital, providing guidance and support to the charity as they raised hundreds of thousands of pounds.

“It was wonderful to be involved and all these years later, when we visit the hospital, I can walk through the garden and explain to my children how I was involved, and they know it as dad’s garden. Sometimes I’ll sit on one of the benches to remember.

“It’s knowing I’ve been a part of something really special that’s making a difference to the lives of others in my hometown of Bolton, something I hope my children will talk about in the future to say, ‘your grandad was involved in putting this together’”.

Since then, Chris’ contributions to the charity have been invaluable, using his local knowledge and entrepreneurial skills to find and develop opportunities for Bolton businesses to work with Our Bolton NHS Charity, with the aim of creating a community of partnerships to make a lasting and meaningful difference.

“I’m the type of person that wants to be involved in helping. I may not always be directly involved, but like with the Baby Memorial Garden, you can bring people together to make a difference on a massive scale.

“Most people who use the garden would never even know I exist, but what we’re able to do together as a community is touching hundreds and hundreds of people on a week.

“Don’t be shy about getting in touch and getting involved. You can make the experience your own. I’ve never ran a marathon. I’m not going to do cycling or climb a mountain or jump out of a plane.

“It doesn’t have to be any of that. It’s about the little things. Just being able to speak to people, introducing somebody to somebody else, it all adds up. Those small things snowball into something bigger,

“You’re creating the foundation for people to work together to support the patients, families and staff. It’s a ripple effect.”

For Chris, being involved with Our Bolton NHS Charity has had a hugely positive impact on his life.

“It’s took away any feeling of isolation I was experiencing. I felt lost after experiencing the loss of a child and didn’t know where to focus my attention.

“For people going through that, please don’t feel like you’re on your own.”

Fintan O’Malley raised thousands of pounds in memory of his special daughter, Millie, who was born prematurely and received care in our Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

Millie was born prematurely at week 22 and 6 days, weighing just 486g, and bravely fought to be with her parents, Fintan and Becca, in NICU for 33 days.

Fintan’s extraordinary fundraising challenge saw him embark on a 330km ultramarathon run around the West Pennine Moors, battling stormy conditions and a total elevation the equivalent of climbing Mount Everest.

Fintan and his partner Becca also had a community of supporters around them to help raise more than £40,000 for specialist neonatal equipment to help families in the future.

“Millie was perfect, she was beautiful with a perfect little nose and perfect little toes, but she was also a little fighter.

“Millie dealt with so much in her short life and had a big personality that captivated the hearts of everyone. We are so proud of our little angel and are forever grateful that she chose us to be her parents.

“This unit, who so lovingly looked after Millie, gave us 33 precious days with our daughter before she moved on to the next part of her journey.

“Babies born in this unit who use the equipment bought in Millie’s memory may one day become parents themselves, and as long as that bloodline continues, so will Millie’s legacy.”