Family thank Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital for ‘incredible care’ after son, 4, ‘failed to wake up’

• Dougie MacKay, 4, was admitted to Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital with a collapsed lung, pneumonia and high sepsis infection rate
• Parents Ellie and Gordon set themselves a challenge they named ‘Dougie’s Dozen’, to complete 12 fundraising activities in 12 months
• The family is set to complete their fundraising challenge at this year’s Great Manchester Run

A family from Preston are capping off a year of remarkable fundraising to say thank you to Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital (RMCH), one of Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust’s (MFT) family of hospitals, for the care their young son received. In February 2024, Dougie, now aged 4, was admitted to his local hospital for croup, a virus that affects children causing their airways to swell, where his parents Ellie and Gordon also discovered he had contracted both Flu A and Flu B.

Following treatment at the hospital Dougie was discharged, but a dramatic deterioration over the following days resulted in Dougie being blue lighted back to hospital due to extremely low oxygen levels.
Within two hours of arriving Ellie and Gordon were told their son’s lung had collapsed due to empyema, a condition which sees a build-up of pus between the lungs and chest cavity. Dougie was also diagnosed with pneumonia and sepsis.

Dougie was intubated and stabilised before being transferred to RMCH for specialist treatment. He would go on to spend 12 nights at RMCH, including eight in intensive care, with his initial experience in hospital an extremely traumatic one for any parent.

Dougie and his parents were isolated in the hospital due to his Flu A and B diagnosis and when he was taken out of sedation, he failed to wake up.

“This was honestly the most worrying 24 hours of our lives as we were told he should have regained consciousness but hadn’t,” Ellie says. Dougie eventually came round and spent a further few days recuperating on the ward. Since being discharged he has had several months of follow up care and gone on to make a full recovery.

When Dougie initially failed to wake up, a family friend and customer of the family’s Preston Baby Sensory business – also the crew mate of the paramedic who first transferred Dougie to hospital – compiled a video of supportive messages. These all came from children who were either in Dougie’s nursery class or Toddler Sense class or were from families whose children were attending other Preston Baby Sensory classes.

The idea was that the voices and familiarity would help to wake Dougie from sedation. He started to wake up but wasn’t verbal or interacting. Ellie and Gordon showed him the video and he instantly started crying – demonstrating the impact of the video messages and voices.

Preston Baby Sensory, the family’s business, along with their children’s play café, has been a central part of the MacKay’s fundraising for RMCH. They have put on a number of themed Baby Sensory and Toddler Sense classes, including a mini-Olympics, with ticket sales supporting their fundraising target. Other fundraising activities have included family members taking part in the Charity’s annual Heroes at the Hyatt abseil, and Ellie and Gordon recently completing the 2025 London Marathon as first-time marathon runners!

“Dougie is the youngest of four children and we had never been through anything like this with our older children. The care and treatment he received at RMCH was astounding. We were in absolute awe,” says Ellie.

“The nursing staff took such incredible care of our boy that at times it brought us to tears. So many small elements made our stay and our son’s recovery a thousand times easier. We cannot thank the hospital enough. We were determined to give something back and came up with the idea of ‘Dougie’s Dozen’ – challenging ourselves to complete 12 fundraising activities over 12 months to recognise of the 12 nights Dougie spent in hospital.”

The family are now set to complete their fundraising at this year’s Great Manchester Run and are hopeful they might exceed their original £8,000 target. Their son Finley (15) will be taking on the event’s 10km run, whilst daughters Maisie (12) and Matilda (9) will take on the Junior event, and Dougie is poised for the 1.6km Mini Run.

“We’re really looking forward to taking on this year’s Great Manchester Run as a family and completing our year of fundraising on a high! Exceeding our original goal of £8,000 would be the cherry on the cake and we’re really grateful for the support everyone has shown us”, says Ellie.

Angela Rowe, Deputy Director of Manchester Foundation Trust Charity said:

“It’s great to hear that Dougie is well and thriving after his time in hospital and we’re extremely grateful to the MacKay family and their Baby Sensory customers for their fundraising. Through their inspiring, inventive and community-led fundraising they’ve raised a remarkable amount which will make a difference for patients and families cared for Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital. We can’t wait to see them cross the finish line!”

Follow the McKay family’s Great Manchester Run journey and support them on their JustGiving page.