Mum’s touching tribute to her ‘fiery’ premature son who, even in death, is an inspiration to others UK News

A mother has spoken movingly of her ‘feisty’ son who died cradled in her arms aged five months following complications from premature birth.

Northumberland tot Frankie Foster was born weighing just 565g – little more than a bag of dried pasta – at 24 weeks and a day on October 22, 2019, at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle.

Over the next few weeks, he underwent three life-saving operations and 12 blood and plasma transfusions as he valiantly fought for his life.

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Eventually, his little body could take no more and he died peacefully on April 7, 2020, as his mother, Leigh Swithenbank, held him gently to her chest after his health deteriorated and doctors turned off his ventilator. Now Leigh, 31, who is also mother to Cory, 11, and Harry, nine, has spoken fondly of her youngest child and her courageous battle for survival.

“It was a privilege, even for a short time, to have had Frankie in our lives,” she said. Frankie or tell him what we did.

“He brought us all a lot of happiness.

“But he was a fiery little bugger! The nurses always said that for someone so small, he was really determined. He didn’t like people taking blood or sticking needles in him. He would defend himself.”

Unfortunately, the time came when Frankie, who was deaf, visually impaired and suffered from numerous medical conditions, was no longer able to fight.

But while the little Trojan is gone, it’s certainly not forgotten.

Her family helped raise nearly £1,500 in her name for the Newcastle-based Tiny Lives Trust, which supported Leigh and her two sons throughout Frankie’s short life.

Cory and Harry have completed the 2021 Junior Great North Run in memory of their brother and have just learned that they also have places for this year’s event. And now Cory and Harry’s football club, New Fordley Juniors, have added the Tiny Lives logo to all their teams’ new football strips in recognition of the charity’s work to help support the family during this traumatic time.

The club, which play in Annitsford in North Tyneside, have also pledged to help raise funds to support the organization, which is dedicated to helping newborn families at RVI.

Club chairman Andrew Purvis said: “We have seen the struggle Leigh, Cory and Harry have had and the outstanding help they have received from Tiny Lives.

“We were looking for a local charity to support, and given that we are a youth football club, this was the perfect match.

“Every band and practice kit now bears the Tiny Lives logo, and every week we get people asking what that means. With 23 teams, we help spread the word. As a charity we We know how hard it is to keep things going.”

Louise Carroll, Tiny Lives Community and Events Fundraiser, added: “It’s such a lovely gesture from New Fordley, to spread the word about Tiny Lives and to honor the memory of such a brave little boy as Frankie, especially when his two older brothers play for the club.”

Leigh, who lives in Seaton Delaval and works in customer service for Northumberland Specialist Surfacing in Cramlington, said that for Tiny Lives she would not have been able to cope with Frankie’s premature birth.

She remembers: “I couldn’t get out of it mentally. But Tiny Lives provided me with a psychologist who saw us twice a week at first. I had really bad post-traumatic stress disorder and I was mentally and physically all over the place.

“Four days after Frankie was born, I was readmitted to hospital with postnatal psychosis. Tiny Lives helped lift my spirits.”

It was hardly surprising that Leigh was in such a state. Everything had gone normally with her pregnancy. But she was walking her dogs when she began to suffer from stomach pains and was rushed to RVI.

She endured an agonizing six-day labor before Frankie was born and immediately moved to the neonatal unit at RVI.

Leigh said: “Frankie was so small he was translucent. I was told it was unlikely he would make it, but Frankie pushed on.”

He had just reached the size of a full-term baby when he died.

Leigh said: “It was days before he died that the consultant pulled me aside and told me he only had one…