Carmarthenshire family reaches £40k and holding fundraising night for those who saved baby’s life after head injury

A family who are raising money for medics and causes that helped save their baby’s life after a serious head injury have raised £40,000 in just a few months.

All of that has been raised online by word-of-mouth, and it is only now that the first fundraising event is being held, a dinner at Llanelli's Diplomat Hotel.

Eighteen-month-old Jack Howells was rushed to Noah's Ark Children's Hospital for Wales in Cardiff on Friday, February 10, after he fell hitting his head on the kitchen floor at home in Drefach, near Cross Hands in the Gwendraeth Valley.

His mum Jessica Howells, 28, said she and husband Jamie, 35, experienced "every parent's worst nightmare" when they didn't know if their "happy and bouncy" son would survive.

Now almost six months on, Jack is a happy and healthy little boy, developing well.

In the days after the fall the family started raising money with a GoFundMe page to thank those who saved his life, namely Llanelli First Responders, Wales Air Ambulance and Noah's Ark Children's Hospital Charity and the McDonald House Charities UK.

Thousands of pounds has poured in since day one and Jessica said: "All of the money raised so far has been just from people hearing and reading about Jack, it's been incredible to have raised so much without actual fundraising events yet.

"The first one we are doing is on July 22, which is the Jack Howells Charity night, which will be a two-course meal, live music, auction and raffle.

"It's already sold out, 250 tickets have gone, it's been amazing.

"Dafen AFC has also held a charity evening and donated the money collected to Jack’s fundraiser."

Following Jack's fall in February, Jessica and Jamie started driving to A&E with Jack but on the way he started vomiting and becoming unresponsive, Jessica said: “He went white and floppy and deteriorated from then.”

Llanelli First Responders and paramedics were called and they pin-pointed the family en route.

Wales Air Ambulance was scrambled but bad weather meant the medics could not reach them via helicopter. Instead the team met Jack on the road, using specialist equipment to keep him alive.

He was put in an induced coma and taken to Cardiff, where it was discovered Jack had fractured his skull and a bleed on the brain, needing emergency surgery.

Speaking from the family home, Jessica said Jack is doing really well in his recovery.  

"He is developing normally and enjoying nursery, the health workers are happy with his progress, he's meeting every milestone," she said.

"He's starting to learn words and he's a busy boy."

Looking ahead beyond the charity evening, Jessica said: "If it's a success, we are hopefully looking to make it an annual event to raise money, because we can't thank all those people enough that helped save Jack's life."

The GoFundMe page can be found here.