Dad Joshua Carr has told of his baby son’s battle for life after he became ill at Christmas three years ago.

As tiny Freddie fought for his life for two weeks, his family were helped by the Ronald McDonald House charities.

And now Mr Carr will be braving the New Year’s Day dip in Ramsgate to raise money in recognition of the support the family received.

It was Christmas in 2014 when Freddie became ill, at just nine weeks old.

On Christmas Eve, Mr Carr and his partner Victoria Morriss took Freddie to their GP.

The Ramsgate couple were told to take him straight to the children’s ward at the QEQM Hospital, where a bed would be waiting for him.

Little Freddie – now a healthy and happy three-year-old – was diagnosed with bronchitis and spent three days in hospital with doctors doing everything they could.

Despite this, Freddie was deteriorating, struggling to breathe.

Mr Carr said: “On Boxing Day I received a call at work, telling me I needed to get to the hospital.

“Once I arrived all our family was around him, and then I could see just how poorly he had got.

“It all happened so fast, only a few hours earlier whilst I was with him he wasn’t that bad.

“I didn’t know what was happening but the screams coming from my boy is a sound I will never forget. He was then whisked off to theatre, where he would be put in a medically induced coma and transferred to King’s College Hospital in London.”

The pair had no way of arranging accommodation in London when they first arrived in the early hours of the morning, so they slept on the hospital floor.

The next day they were told about the Ronald McDonald House charity, which gives families a place to stay when children are in hospitals away from home.

Mr Carr said: “Although we didn’t leave his side often, we always had a nice, warm bed to come back to. We had a place to wash, eat/cook, wash our clothes and just unwind after listening to hospital machines all day.

“We were able to have our daughter, who was only three at the time, and other family members come and stay for the day.

“It took a huge weight off our shoulders mentally and financially. We stayed for two weeks until Freddie was well enough to be transferred back to our local hospital.

“Everything they do and provide is all down to donations.

“It truly is a home from home and we will be forever thankful for everything Ronald McDonald House has done for us.”

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