This site is in memory of Henry Carter, 13 May 2019  -  26 December 2019.

Henry was born at 30 weeks and 3 days at Kings College Hospital, and spent 5 weeks in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) going from strength to strength. Mummy and Daddy were ecstatic to be able to take him home at 35 weeks and over 6 months he grew into an energetic little boy who never stopped kicking his legs. Bath time was the highlight of Mummy and Daddy’s day where they got to see Henry’s face, filled with pure joy for bubbles, plastic dinosaurs and anything squeaky.

Unfortunately, on Wednesday 4th December Henry caught a cold that worsened, so after 3 days, they went to Lewisham A&E. Henry loved his food a lot, so when he still wasn't eating very well after another couple of days he had a chest x-ray, which showed an enlarged heart with some abnormal thickening of the muscles. Sadly, everything changed in that moment and we were transferred to PICU at Evelina's Children’s Hospital, St Thomas' where a diagnosis of Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy was confirmed; the same disease that his uncle had died from 5 years earlier. Henry deteriorated, despite the best efforts of the excellent Nurses, Doctors and Cardiology team at Evelina. Two weeks later Henry died in his Mummy and Daddy’s arms on Boxing Day 2019. He will always be remembered for his blue, sparkly eyes; his cheeky smile; and his love for life and silly noises.

We have chosen to support Evelina London and the British Heart Foundation in the hope that Henry’s death can help others. The Evelina London were fantastic in their care and support of the whole family and we’d like to make sure this continues for other families facing hardship and difficult decisions. And we have also chosen to support the British Heart Foundation so that those with cardiomyopathy may one day have a brighter future.