Funds are being raised for a much-needed new incubator for Faro Hospital
William Nutter, his father Peter Nutter and a group of friends will be cycling the entire national EN2 road, from Chaves to Faro, in April in memory of Joshua, William’s six-month-old son who passed away on August 4, 2022.
The challenge will also aim to raise €20,000 to purchase a new incubator for Faro Hospital.
As William, 24, told the Resident, Joshua was born on the February 4, 2022 and was around 16 weeks premature, weighing only around 700 grams.
“He was given very little chances of survival within his first few weeks of life but made very good progress at Faro Hospital and the doctors and nurses at the neonatal ward were absolutely amazing and paid so much attention to the finer details,” he told us.
Joshua was later transferred to a hospital in Lisbon so that he could be closer to specialist doctors. However, his parents were only able to visit him twice over 48-hour periods due to their professional lives, and they also believed that he had been receiving better care in Faro.
While Joshua was eventually transferred back to Faro, he had contracted a “virus which attacked the lungs specifically, which ultimately led to his passing”.
While Joshua has left a gap in his family’s lives, he has also given them inspiration.
“Joshua spent much of his short life at Faro Hospital. The doctors and nurses and all the staff there were amazing. But those wonderful people had such limited resources. So we are going to raise funds on their behalf,” the Nutter family wrote on their crowdfunding page.
“The staff have told us how they are desperate for a new incubator which costs approximately €20,000,” they added.
To raise this amount, William and his father Peter will be embarking on the daunting task of cycling around 738 kilometres on the EN2 road between April 15 and 21, ending outside Faro Hospital.
“I haven’t cycled or touched a pedal bike since I was 10 years old, so it had been 13 years until I started cycling in October,” William told us.
He and his father, who is 48, have already been practising, with Peter leading the way.
“My father has basically been my coach as he has been cycling for about seven years now,” William, who is from Manchester but moved with his family to Portimão when he was just eight years old, said.
Joining them will be six friends: Brian Kirk, Rory Hart and Rob Charles from Portimão, Dave Thorneycroft from the UK; and Eric and Karen Doehrman from the USA.
They will be accompanied during their journey by a support vehicle that is being donated by Martin Brown, who owns Vilamoura-based transfer company Portugal Airport Transfer, for the challenge and which will be driven by William’s mother, Donna Nutter.
The crowdfunding page can be found by searching ‘Weʼre raising £18,000 to Joshua’s Memorial Fund’ at www.justgiving.com. Over £2,733 (around €3,000) has already been raised.
