Nursing teams pulled out all the stops to ensure a grandfather was able to meet his baby granddaughter for the first and final time.
The fantastic team at the Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth helped arrange for Paul Kempton to meet his newest granddaughter for the first time before dying peacefully.
With the ever-changing pandemic restrictions and 63-year-old Paul going in and out of hospital, the possibility of him getting to meet his granddaughter, Millie, was becoming very difficult.
Desperate to meet the ten-month-old, the family hadn’t seen Ella and her partner since they left for Australia four years ago, where Ella fell pregnant and gave birth during lockdown.
In quarantine.
Luckily, restrictions changed at the beginning of March and Ella booked last minute flights home. But just two days before she was due to fly home, her father was rushed back into hospital where he tested positive for Covid-19.
With Paul in quarantine on the ward, Ella was finally back in the UK but unable to bring Millie in for a visit. After five weeks and two rescheduled flights, it seemed that the family were not going to be able to introduce Millie to her grandad.
After speaking with ward manager Danni Munks, Danni simply couldn’t let Ella and her family fly back to Australia without Paul meeting his granddaughter. Danni went above and beyond organising a surprise for Paul to be wheeled outside of the ward.
Millie finally got to meet her grandad.
A moment of happiness.
In what had been a very hard and emotional time for the family, Ella said it was a moment of happiness and joy. She said: “I can’t thank Danni and the ward staff enough for making that happen, especially Joseph who had taken such wonderful care of my dad.”
Sadly, during Ella’s journey back to Australia, Paul died peacefully in his sleep. Surrounded by his family, they said their final goodbyes.
“The team on his ward were so wonderful during this time, and my mum and my sister were in the room with him as he drifted off, and myself on FaceTime from Singapore airport,” Ella noted. “We are all unbelievably devastated, and I’m struggling to find the words to express our sadness. It does however make us all the more grateful that Danni’s team were so accommodating and helped us make those last few days so special.”
Paul leaves behind his wife Julie of 43 years, eldest daughter Lauren and granddaughter three-year-old Alice.
