Frome business owners, Kat and Paul Roffey, are fundraising in memory of their son, Beau Bear ,who died last year. The 'Beau Roffey Tribute Fund' aims to raise money for the Bath RUH Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and for an Automated External Defibrillator, which will be housed at their events and training company, Affinity Wellbeing, based on the Marston Trading Estate.

Beau was born in the RUH in November 2020 but sadly he died two days later due to complications with his bowel. "The team at the NICU were so caring and loving during our time there", said Kat, "They give 100% of their attention to the babies and their families and in honour of Beau we want to give something back, to help other babies and their loved ones too."

Having liaised with the Bath NICU, the couple are raising money for a Binocular Indirect Ophthalmoscope. This specialist piece of equipment is used by an Ophthalmologist to perform the delicate procedure of eye screening on tiny babies. The screening detects Retinopathy of Prematurity, which in a small number of cases can develop into severe disease and cause childhood visual disability. It is largely preventable and screening using specialist equipment can detect it.

"Beau has touched the hearts of our family, friends and the wider community at Affinity Wellbeing", said Paul. "So we want to also better protect those around us by investing in a defibrillator. Sudden Cardiac Arrest is one of the leading causes of death globally, and in the UK kills more people than breast cancer and lung cancer. Anyone can experience a Sudden Cardiac Arrest - it doesn't matter how old you are or how fit you are and without immediate treatment 90-95% of victims will die. Using a defibrillator can drastically increase the chances of survival."

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Kat and Paul have set a fundraising target of £5000 and several events are taking place to help them raise this amount. Members of their gym have set themselves individual challenges, including a 50 mile bike ride and a 130 mile walk over 56 hours. And 7 year old Sidney Lovell ran and won the Warminster Carnival Chase Run in Beau's memory. The fundraising efforts will culminate in a marathon 24-hour workout session, which over 60 members of Affinity Wellbeing are taking part in on 24th and 25th September.

Paul and Kat said, "The response to our tribute fund has already been incredible. We are so grateful to everyone for their support, from some of our youngest members through to organisations across Frome who have donated too. We cannot thank them enough for enabling us to honour Beau's life by helping to look after and protect the lives of others."

You can find out more or donate to the tribute fund HERE: their Just Giving site