Helen Harvey05:00, May 07 2021
ANDY JACKSON/Stuff
Derek Dowman, 5, was born nine weeks early and spent seven weeks in the neo natal unit at Taranaki Base Hospital.
Derek Dowman was reunited with nurses who helped looked after him as a premature baby when his grandparents donated a $57,000 Babyleo incubator. Derek, now a chatty 5-year-old, was one of the reasons why New Plymouth supermarket owners Rob and Denise Dowman donated the intensive care incubator, the gold standard of care for acutely sick newborn babies. Their grandson was born at 31 weeks and five days and spent about seven weeks in the Taranaki Base Hospital Neo Natal Unit, Rob Dowman said.