LAST year, doctors at the John Hunter Children's Hospital saved the life of Kayden Dall, and this week his dad was able to give something back.
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In what was an extremely emotional reunion, Jordan Dall - and his partner Rebecca Steele - were able to present the hospital with $3000 courtesy of the Gunnedah Motorcycle Club's (MCC) charity golf day which was held last November.
Born at just 25 weeks and weighing only 740 grams, Kayden was in need of serious and ongoing care after he was born, spending more than 100 days at John Hunter.
His parents stayed with him for that time, and developed a close relationship with the staff responsible for taking care of him.
That's why, upon their return to the facility on Tuesday, it was difficult for anybody involved to control their emotions.
"They were very thankful and will send through a photo of what they use the money for," wrote Ms Steele on Facebook.
"They were running out the door to see Kayden, an emotional reunion, this lady [referring to neonatologist Dr Larissa Korostenski] saved his life."
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Speaking to the Namoi Valley Independent, Mr Dall admitted it was extremely satisfying to be able to bring his son back there and give a proper thanks.
"It was unreal to be able to go back down there and see them and take the little man down," he stated.
"He's all grown up, he's only six months old but for them to see him and for us to be able to donate the money to them and hand it over was pretty good."
Weighing in at 5.5 kg, Kayden is now well on his way to becoming a healthy baby and his family will be hoping that after he's all grown, he too may join the organisation that rallied around his parents so heavily.
After all, the MCC is a group close to Mr Dall's heart, aside from being a clubman himself, his father is the current president and his grandfather was also once president of the club, while his mother and grandmother have also been heavily involved.
The family connection made it an easy choice for the group when deciding which charity to donate to this year, with their golf day being an annual event that benefits a different organisation each year.
Despite COVID-19 restrictions and the financial difficulties many faced as a result of them in 2020, Mr Dall was still thrilled with how much the club managed to raise.
"Given the year that we did have and being a little town with little local businesses and sponsors, to get that was pretty incredible," he said.
