‘The seven days we had with him were special’, says Noah’s grieving parents

This was the time Noah James Ward spent on earth before peacefully passing away in his mother Aimee’s arms on January 16 at 12.32pm.

To even have survived for that long was a feat in itself for Noah and his strength to keep fighting for longer than he was expected to ensured Aimee, father Christopher, brother Conán and the wider family circle will have memories to cherish for a lifetime.

Diagnosed at 21 weeks with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, severe restriction of the atrial septum and critical aortic stenosis, Noah surpassed all expectation by being able to leave hospital and go home with his loving parents.

“They basically told us Noah may not breath when he was born, he may survive a few hours or even a couple of days. We never expected to get to seven days,” explained Aimee.

“To be honest all we wanted was Noah to be born and survive and then after that we wanted six hours in the hospital to get him home.

“We were told we had to spend six hours in the hospital after he was born.

“We just wanted to get him home. He was baptised in the hospital within 15 minutes of being born, that’s how little chance he was given. So, everything after that was a bonus.”

“We both breathed a sigh of relief when we heard his little cry... our baby was breathing,” said Christopher.

“We will be forever grateful to all the medical staff involved in the lead up to Noah’s birth, and the midwives and doctors that delivered and cared for our little man in the short time he was with us.

“They did everything they could to make sure that whatever time we had with Noah was special.”

Weighing 6lbs 8oz Noah was born at 5.02pm on January 8, and Aimee and Christopher brought him home later that evening.

From then on, he was smothered in love from his parents and their families and all the visitors to the house. From the doctors who called every day and the NI Children’s Hospice staff at night who did brilliant jobs.

They were amazed at how well he was doing.

Aimee also paid tribute to SANDS NI, the Children’s Heartbeat Trust who provided support and Remember My Baby who took photographs in the hospital when Noah was born.

“It was crazy. The house was full of visitors. Everyone wanted to meet Noah.

“And it was just every day, every hour was a blessing.

“We were waking up every day thinking how lucky we were that he was still with us.

“It was nice to have people in the house to meet him. It wasn’t like we had this wee sick baby, and nobody ever met him, it was nice for him to meet all the family and for everyone to get to see him.”

The plan was always to give Noah palliative care. There was never going to be any intervention.

All Aimee and Christopher wanted was to spend the time they had with their precious son.

“It was the best seven days it really was. He nearly made it to eight days but not quite. Then he passed away in my arms at home.

“The seven days we had with him really were the most special seven days.

“We’ll treasure it forever and now we are lost. Although he was only here for a week it felt like a lifetime it’s hard to come back now with no baby.

“We have the other wee man who keeps us going it’s hard to readjust when we had two kids in the house.”

In his final hours, Noah’s condition deteriorated. His parents gave him a small teddy to hold on to in those last moments on earth.

On Saturday, January 18 at Mass of the Angels in Sacred Heart Church, Irvinestown, mourners gathered for a beautiful funeral service by Father Kevin Duffy and conducted by Claude McKervey Funeral Directors.

A guard of honour was held by St. Molaise GAA Club, Irvinestown.

“It was lovely. The music by Helen, Colleen and Chloe Maye was perfect. I couldn’t have asked for it to be better.

“Because we knew it was coming, we had time to plan and arrange everything so that we could say goodbye to our little boy the way we wanted to.

Beside him in the coffin was that teddy.

A final comfort for Noah who made such an impression on those he met on his short time on earth and will be sorely missed by his parents, brother, grandparents, godparents, uncles, aunts and entire family circle.