Why your daily contribution matters

A personal story from James, technical service manager
For us, 2008 was a particularly exciting year. My wife was pregnant with our first child. We were happy and excited, and could hardly wait to finally hold our son in our arms. Unfortunately, however, complications arose during the pregnancy, and this meant that our child, a boy, needed to be brought into the world as early as 30 weeks. He was then immediately placed in an incubator. My wife was taken to the intensive care unit as a precaution.

It was an emotional rollercoaster! The first few seconds of pure joy as a young, brand-new family were followed by days and weeks of worry and uncertainty. We were even happier when both my wife and our son were well enough to leave hospital on the actual due date.

Every sample represents a father, a mother, a child - a human being!

I knew the hospital where my son was born very well! As a Technical Service Manager at Roche, I played a key role in equipping its in-house laboratory with automation systems. I also then remained in touch with the hospital as the dedicated service contact.

Over the days and weeks that I spent in this hospital as a husband and new father, I then became more aware that the individual solutions for my son and my wife rested on the results of our systems, which not only prepare every sample but also analyse them. And they depend on the work of each and every employee!

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