RYAN Reynolds and Rob McElhenney have donated to a fundraiser set up after a Wrexham AFC player nearly lost his partner and unborn child. 

The Wrexham co-owners have generously donated £10,000 to the intensive care unit that cared for player James Jones' partner, Chloe, and their son. Baby Jude was born 15 weeks premature in November 2022.

During a match at The Racecourse, the midfielder had to leave the pitch early when his partner Chloe, who was watching the game against Aldershot from the stands, was rushed to Wrexham Maelor Hospital. Both Chloe and their baby were in "desperate trouble", leading doctors to perform an emergency caesarean to save their lives.

A GoFund page set up states: "She was rushed to Wrexham hospital by James’s parents and shortly after arriving, it became apparent that things were not looking good for both Chloe and her unborn baby. Chloe was diagnosed with pre-eclampsia and despite multiple attempts to lower her blood pressure it became apparent that the situation was becoming increasingly dangerous. James at the time was on the football pitch and had in fact, just scored .

"Fortunately the message got through to him, by the excellent staff at Wrexham and Phil Parkinson immediately substituted him and sent him on his way. Still wearing his football kit, he was driven to the Maelor hospital by his Dad where Chloe and their unborn baby were in desperate trouble. Initially James received the news that Chloe might be ‘turning the corner’ only for the situation to rapidly worsen and within 15 minutes after arriving, he was ushered into a private room to be given the terrible news that if action wasn’t taken immediately both Chloe and their baby would not survive."

Jude was delivered by emergency caesarean section shortly afterwards. He was born extremely premature at just 25 weeks + 1 day. Jude only had a 40 per cent survival rate due to being born so early and in a category 2 hospital. Neither Chloe nor Jude would have survived if the emergency caesarean had not been performed when it had.

Jude was transferred within hours to Bolton neonatal intensive care unit.

Unfortunately there were further complications for Chloe. The pre eclampsia turned into HELLP syndrome, which lead to Chloe having two seizures and multiple organ failure and requiring kidney dialysis.

The GoFundMe page adds: "This was an incredibly difficult situation for James, especially in the first few days as Jude was in Bolton Neonatal Intensive Care and Chloe was in Wrexham Maelor Intensive Care. James’s parents in particular spent aIot of time being with Jude whilst James was in Wrexham with Chloe, it meant so much to James knowing that Jude wasn’t on his own when he couldn’t be there. James is so grateful to his parents.

"Jude was in hospital for 122 days in total which were the hardest days of their lives. They lived at the hospital accommodation during this time, which meant they were able to stay close to be there constantly for Jude and his ‘rollercoaster’ journey."

Chloe said: "James and I would sit next to his incubator for hours on end, every day, looking at our tiny fragile baby and all the numbers on his monitor, praying that he would survive. At times, we believed he wouldn’t.

"There were two occasions when Jude’s nurse had to pull the emergency cord as he was in a critical condition. There is nothing more terrifying than seeing a room full of nurses and doctors run over to your baby without hesitation, to try and save their life.

"No baby should have to go through that and no parent should ever have to watch. It’s absolutely heartbreaking."

She added: "We cannot thank the nurses, doctors and consultants enough for saving me and Jude. The work they do day in, day out, is amazing. There really are no words for how much it means to us, Jude is our whole world.

"We would also like to thank the charity ‘Spoons’ for supporting us through our journey at Bolton Neonatal."

Jude left hospital on March 21, 2023 and is now "absolutely thriving". 

The couple are now raising funds which will go towards supporting both the Wrexham Maelor Hospital and Bolton Hospital intensive care units (both adult and neonatal), and the Spoons charity. 

It has so far raised over £14,000 - thanks in no small part to a donation of £10,000 from Ryan and Rob. Anyone wishing to donate can visit the page at https://www.gofundme.com/f/qqbud-please-donate-to-help

Chloe added: "We are so proud of him for being so strong and brave through absolutely everything he’s had to endure. It is an honour to be his parents and we love every second of it.

"Someone was looking out for us on November 19, if we hadn’t have gone to watch James play at Wrexham, we wouldn’t have been across the road from the hospital and we wouldn’t be alive today.

"We would like to thank all the friends and family that supported us through our difficult journey. We will forever be grateful for those who went above and beyond with countless visits, food brought to the hospital and all the many other things big and small which made our time in hospital that little bit easier and helped us get through the experience."