Ella’s story

16 January 2023

A massive thank you to Ella and all the Benezra family for raising over £10,000 for Starlight neonatal unit at Barnet Hospital. Ella was born at 26 weeks, weighing just 760 grams. Twelve years later she chose to fundraise to say thank you to the team who cared for her in those early days. Ella raised the money by asking family and friends for donations to the unit instead of gifts on her bat mitzvah.

The Starlight neonatal intensive care unit at Barnet Hospital provides specialist care to premature and sick babies. Ella’s mum, Tova expressed her gratitude to the unit:

“Coming up to Ella’s bat mitzva we really wanted to look back and thank the starlight unit for its tremendous efforts of looking after Ella and nursing her to health.”

Ella and her family visited the unit to present their donation to the staff, some of which even remembered her name from when she was a patient.

“It was a wonderful feeling to come back to present the cheque and meet the wonderful staff who helped Ella 12 years ago! Our journey with the starlight unit was unforgettable, scary at times but we felt looked after at all times and are beyond grateful for all that they did for us and continue to do for other babies who need their help. We are so thankful to all our family and friends who helped us reach £10,000 and beyond proud of our Ella who ran the project and did all she could to reach her goal.”