The Leonidas Sferopoulos de León Sunshine Fund

Welcome to the Leonidas Sferopoulos de Leon Sunshine Fund! We have decided to create this fund to celebrate his life and the miracle that he is. Now as a big brother to Aristotelis and Axilleas, Leo continues to surprise us and our children fill our hearts with joy every day. Aris and Axi were both born at full term, however their names have been added to this fund in support of Bliss as well. The birth of Leonidas changed our life and the way we see many things, and it reminded us of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's timeless wisdom: "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye". This is why, we hope that instead of our children receiving things and material stuff in excess during their childhood, they can receive donations from family and friends. In this way, we will also be supporting other families in the UK who go through the unbelievably difficult experience of having a baby in a neonatal intensive care unit. As they grow up, we would like our boys to value how important it is to be kind to other people, and to truly, selflessly help someone. We will proudly tell them the stories of their very different but uniquely beautiful births, and the so many people who helped us along their amazing journeys. Every donation that is made to this Sunshine Fund will go to Bliss and will help them meet their target of ensuring that every baby born premature or sick in the UK has the best chance of survival and quality of life. Our baby boy Leonidas was born on the 1st February 2016, prematurely and unexpectedly at 27 weeks while we were on holidays in Germany. He weighed 1.1 kg (2.4lbs), measured 36 cm and stayed in hospital for nine weeks. This was a scenario that hadn't even crossed our minds. We knew that some people's babies were born prematurely but we had absolutely no idea of what this meant for a baby, for a mother and for a father. Having a baby born so early has been by far the most challenging experience of our lives, but a very enriching one. We had an amazing team of doctors and nurses supporting us. We also contacted Bliss and got lots of support from them even though we were not in the UK, which really did help us pull through and stay focused and informed. Every day that passes we look proudly at Leo and we are in awe of his strength, of how he has grown and developed into a wonderful, happy human being. We will be forever grateful to all the people who helped us while we were in Germany. Doctors, nurses, family, friends, kind strangers, our doula, midwives and health visitors in the UK, our ante natal classes instructors, and of course the people at Bliss. We are passionate about raising awareness on prematurity and supporting other families who may be going through a similar situation to the one we lived. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for donating as little or as much as you can. With your support, you are truly changing lives. Leonidas, Aristotelis, Axilleas, Marcela & Dimitris