Fraser was born in May 2005, a beautiful little boy, who filled his parents’ hearts with joy from the first moment we saw him. Unfortunately, after just 12 hours, Fraser started to show signs of breathing problems and was admitted to the Special Care Baby Unit at the local hospital. Over the following 24 hours he continued to battle with his breathing and deteriorated quickly. It was decided to transfer him to St. Thomas’ Neonatal Intensive Care Unit for immediate treatment.

It was still unclear at this time what was causing Fraser’s condition, but he became so sick that it was determined that he would not survive the day. Fraser had other ideas. He had started to breathe 10 percent oxygen by himself to everyone’s amazement and steadily got stronger over the following week. And after just 8 days he was out of intensive care and planning when he could be going home!

During his many investigations whilst in hospital and over the following months, the Metabolic Team at Guy’s Hospital (now the Evelina Children’s Hospital) were brought in and eventually decided that Fraser had a rare metabolic condition. This meant some of the cells in his body could not produce enough energy from his food intake to survive, and that ultimately Fraser’s life-expectancy would not be high. Fraser, as it turned out, was the only person in the world to have this condition.

Fraser had a love for life & really wanted to be here, which is made all the more remarkable considering what he had to deal with. In fact, after his first major episode as a baby which should have ended his life, it was his sheer will and determination to live, that let his parents get to know him and love and treasure their special boy for 28 precious months.

Sadly Fraser died in October 2007. The doctors had thought he would die a week earlier when he was transferred to Christopher’s for end of life care, and they warned his parents that he may not survive the 10 minute journey. Fraser had been supported by CHASE for most of his short life, but that final week at Christopher’s is particularly special to the whole family. Fraser continued to defy the doctors’ predictions, and enjoyed several more days of hydro-therapy and music-therapy sessions (his two favorite activities at CHASE) and spending some last precious time with those people who loved him most.