New Pictures Posted 15 April 2001

The following pages tell the story of our son Jasper, who died on 16 February 2001.

Jasper was born after only 24 weeks gestation and lived for just 24 days, 6½  hours.  This may sound like a heart-rending story but we think how lucky we were to have been able to enjoy those 24 days with our precious son.

The website was originally set up after Jasper was born so we could keep family and friends up to date with his progress in intensive care.  Not only did it achieve its initial purpose and serve as a diary of those precious days but it also enabled us to share Jasper with hundreds of people, many of whom we didn’t even know.  Through the website, our little Jasper touched the lives of countless others.  He will always be special to us and we are moved that he will remain in the hearts of so many.  

We are grateful to have had Jasper even though it was for such a short time.  We had a chance to get to know our son and he made sure we learned what he liked and what he didn’t like. 

Most premature babies don’t like being handled, but apart from one or two days when his treatment meant he was being handled a lot, Jasper seemed to enjoy being touched.  He liked to have his forehead stroked and having his hand held.  One of his favourites was to have mum and dad on either side of the incubator each holding a hand, but what he liked best of all was to come out of the incubator for a cuddle.  He seemed to relax straight away and settle down happily on our laps. 

We hope that this website will serve to help others in similar situations.

This site has been visited  times.

Please sign Jasper's Guestbook, and share your own experience or let us have your feedback on this site.  Alternatively, if you wish you can send comments to: email.