We are Kyle and Jeena, and in December 2024 we welcomed our beautiful baby boy, Fenn Veera Riley. Fenn was born with a congenital heart defect called a hypoplastic aortic arch, meaning his aorta—the main artery carrying blood from the heart—was too narrow. Without surgery shortly after birth, he would not have had the chance of a long life. He was also diagnosed with multiple ventricular septal defects (VSDs) and an atrial septal defect (ASD), which meant there were holes in the walls between both the upper chambers (atria) and the lower chambers (ventricles) of his heart.
Fenn was born at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, and on Boxing Day 2024, at just seven days old, he was transferred to University Hospital Southampton, home to one of the leading paediatric cardiology teams in the country. He underwent his first open-heart surgery the next day. The operation to repair his narrow aorta was successful, but it came with serious complications. In the early hours of New Year’s Day 2025 Fenn was diagnosed with NEC, a severe bowel disease triggered by reduced blood supply to his gut due to the long cross-clamp time during surgery. Over the following days he required several abdominal surgeries to assess and remove the sections of his small intestine that had died. He was left with just one third of his small intestine, and his gastrointestinal tract – normally one continuous canal – was divided into three separate segments.
Fenn spent nearly five weeks in the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) in Southampton before he was stable enough to move briefly to the High Dependency Unit, and then to Ward G4, the general surgery ward, where we waited for further procedures. We were blessed with just over four precious weeks on G4, watching Fenn grow bigger and stronger. During that time he was simply an ordinary little boy, full of personality, flashing his cheeky little smile, and showing us who he was becoming. Those weeks gave us memories we will cherish forever. On March 6th, we saw that version of Fenn for the last time. We were told he needed another heart surgery to close his VSDs and ASD as the pressures
From that point on, the number of surgeries Fenn endured became impossible to count. He fought with everything he had. Each procedure seemed to reveal the need for yet another. He underwent additional open-heart and transcatheter procedures to close defects, place stents, and eventually fit a pacemaker. He also required more abdominal surgeries to try to reconnect his intestines, but the joins would not hold. They leaked and Fenn repeatedly developed sepsis. By May 2025, his surgeons told us there were no more options left to save him. With our hearts completely broken, at just 5 months and 5 days old, Fenn passed away peacefully in our arms.
Fenn spent every one of his 5 months and 5 days in hospital, receiving care from the Neonatal ICU at John Radcliffe, through to PICU, and the surgical (G4) and cardiac (E1) wards at Southampton Children’s Hospital. Throughout his little life – and even after his passing – we were supported by multiple charities that guided us through the most traumatic experience of our lives. We are certain that the precious time Fenn had on this earth would not have been possible without their help. As we grieve our little boy, we have created the Fenn Foundation to keep his memory alive by giving back to the charities that supported him and us. Through the Foundation, we hope to help other children and families facing the unimaginably difficult journey of having their child in hospital.
We are Kyle and Jeena, and in December 2024 we welcomed our beautiful baby boy, Fenn Veera Riley. Fenn was born with a congenital heart defect called a hypoplastic aortic arch, meaning his aorta—the main artery carrying blood from the heart—was too narrow. Without surgery shortly after birth, he would not have had the chance of a long life. He was also diagnosed with multiple ventricular septal defects (VSDs) and an atrial septal defect (ASD), which meant there were holes in the walls between both the upper chambers (atria) and the lower chambers (ventricles) of his heart.
Fenn was born at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, and on Boxing Day 2024, at just seven days old, he was transferred to University Hospital Southampton, home to one of the leading paediatric cardiology teams in the country. He underwent his first open-heart surgery the next day. The operation to repair his narrow aorta was successful, but it came with serious complications. In the early hours of New Year’s Day 2025 Fenn was diagnosed with NEC, a severe bowel disease triggered by reduced blood supply to his gut due to the long cross-clamp time during surgery. Over the following days he required several abdominal surgeries to assess and remove the sections of his small intestine that had died. He was left with just one third of his small intestine, and his gastrointestinal tract – normally one continuous canal – was divided into three separate segments.
Fenn spent nearly five weeks in the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) in Southampton before he was stable enough to move briefly to the High Dependency Unit, and then to Ward G4, the general surgery ward, where we waited for further procedures. We were blessed with just over four precious weeks on G4, watching Fenn grow bigger and stronger. During that time he was simply an ordinary little boy, full of personality, flashing his cheeky little smile, and showing us who he was becoming. Those weeks gave us memories we will cherish forever. On March 6th, we saw that version of Fenn for the last time. We were told he needed another heart surgery to close his VSDs and ASD as the pressures
From that point on, the number of surgeries Fenn endured became impossible to count. He fought with everything he had. Each procedure seemed to reveal the need for yet another. He underwent additional open-heart and transcatheter procedures to close defects, place stents, and eventually fit a pacemaker. He also required more abdominal surgeries to try to reconnect his intestines, but the joins would not hold. They leaked and Fenn repeatedly developed sepsis. By May 2025, his surgeons told us there were no more options left to save him. With our hearts completely broken, at just 5 months and 5 days old, Fenn passed away peacefully in our arms.
Fenn spent every one of his 5 months and 5 days in hospital, receiving care from the Neonatal ICU at John Radcliffe, through to PICU, and the surgical (G4) and cardiac (E1) wards at Southampton Children’s Hospital. Throughout his little life – and even after his passing – we were supported by multiple charities that guided us through the most traumatic experience of our lives. We are certain that the precious time Fenn had on this earth would not have been possible without their help. As we grieve our little boy, we have created the Fenn Foundation to keep his memory alive by giving back to the charities that supported him and us. Through the Foundation, we hope to help other children and families facing the unimaginably difficult journey of having their child in hospital.
We are Kyle & Jeena and we had our beautiful baby boy, Fenn Veera Riley, in December 2024. He was born with a complicated congenital heart defect called hypoplastic aortic arch, with multiple ventricular septal defects and a atrial septal defect. His heart required immediate surgery to correct his aortic as well as extensive hospital care from the moment that Fenn was born.
At just 7 days old, he had his first open heart surgeries. Although the surgery was successful he suffered major complications following this complex surgery, such as NEC, a form of bowel disease triggered by a lack of adequate blood supply to his gut due to a long cross clamp time during his first open heart surgery. This resulted in Fenn needing many more gut surgeries, interventions and an extended stay in the paediatric intensive care unit (PICU).
We lost count of how many more open heart surgeries and gut surgeries that Fenn had to have, fighting for his life every step of the way. In May ‘25 we reached the point where we were told by his surgeons that we had no more options left to save his life. With our hearts absolutely shattered, when Fenn was 5 months and 5 days old, we watched him pass away peacefully in our arms.
Fenn spent all 5 months and 5 days of his little life in hospital, requiring medical care from the Neonatal ICU in John Radcliffe Hospital to the Paediatric ICU, to surgical wards (G4) and cardiac wards (E1) in Southampton Children’s Hospital.
Throughout his life, Fenn and us as his parents relied heavily on multiple charities that helped him and us navigate this traumatic time of our lives.
Even following his death we had a huge amount of support from these charities helping us navigate the grief from losing our baby boy.
We are Kyle & Jeena and we had our beautiful baby boy, Fenn Veera Riley, in December 2024. He was born with a complicated congenital heart defect called hypoplastic aortic arch, with multiple ventricular septal defects and a atrial septal defect. His heart required immediate surgery to correct his aortic as well as extensive hospital care from the moment that Fenn was born.
Providing financial support to children’s charities that supported Fenn and his family during his short time on earth 🌍
