A NEW mum is desperately trying to bring her premature baby home – who was born weighing the same as a bag of sugar.
Bethany Smith, 27, gave birth to little Molly at just 25 weeks and three days gestation at the end of a family holiday in Cyprus.
Bethany, from Exeter, Devon, is now trying to raise £30,000 to bring Molly home to the UK on a medical flight.
Bethany and her husband Jan Cleathero (corr), 28, face a £100,000 hospital bill and a four-month stay in Cyprus.
The mum-of-three told The Sun: “We have to get her home.
“I’ve never asked for help for anything in my life but we’re in another country, we don’t speak the language and we just need to get Molly back to the UK.
“She’s doing well and is a fighter but her organs haven’t developed fully and anything could go wrong at anytime.
“We want to get her home to a specialist children’s hospital as soon as we can.”
Bethany says she went into labour on June 29, the last day of a seven day trip to the holiday island with her husband and two kids.
She said: “I started to get pains the night before we left, but I didn’t think anything of it.
“But it got worse, so we went to the hospital and they said the baby was coming.
“It was terrifying, I knew I was so early and was worried the baby wouldn’t survive.
“In that moment I felt so alone, we were so far from home and we just didn’t expect something like this to happen”.
Little Molly was born weighing just 750 grams on June 29.
Dad Jan had to return to the UK soon after the birth with their two other children and he is yet to meet Molly.
The brave mum added: “Jan had to go back with the kids and is coming back to Cyprus later this week. He can’t wait to meet her.
“It’s incredible how small she is, her hand is about the size of my fingernail and she’s so tiny.
“It’s been so hard to deal with the fact that we’re not back in the UK, the language barrier is very difficult.
“It was meant to be a relaxing family holiday but now I’m stuck here on my own not knowing what will happen”.
The mum-of-two delivered Molly in a hospital in Ammochostos near Famagusta.
Bethany is currently staying an hour’s drive away from Molly who later moved to a hospital in Nicosia.
She has been given the use of a hire car by travel firm Tui.
Bethany added: “It’s a real struggle at times, I’m doing an hours drive every day there and back,
“I have to get her home, we’re both self-employed and I’ve got to see my other kids.
“They’re very upset, they know something is up and that their mum and new sister aren’t at home yet.”
Bethany is now raising £30,000 on GoFundMe to help bring Molly home.
She said: “we’ve been in contact with a private air ambulance company to get Molly back
“he idea is she’ll be flown back to either Plymouth or Bristol.
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“She’s stable and incubated but anything could happen, her major organs aren’t yet developed.”
You can donate to her appeal here.
