THE parents of a newborn baby girl, who underwent lifesaving surgery at a hospital miles away from home, are on a fundraising mission to raise cash for the charity that helped them.

Daisy Baldwin, 25, and Will Wakefield, 26, from Leigh, want to thank The Sick Children’s Trust, which supported them with free “Home from Home” accommodation when their daughter Nelly was born.

A 12-week scan at Southend Hospital revealed Nelly had a condition known as gastroschisis, a defect where the abdominal wall does not develop completely so the intestines develop outside of the body.

She was due to be delivered at King’s College Hospital in London where she would have been operated on immediately. However, she decided to come early and was delivered by caesarean on August 5 .

Doctors wrapped Nelly’s intestines in cling film to protect them during her transfer to The Royal London Hospital as there was no cot free at Kings.

Miss Baldwin said: “It was all very quick, but what I remember mostly was Will and I comforting each other as we were just so upset that we hadn’t even held our new baby because she was so seriously ill.

“Nelly’s intestines were put back inside her body and she was placed on the neonatal intensive care unit. The hospital was so far from our home and the thought of being separated from Nelly during a huge time of uncertainty was very scary, but the wonderful nurses on the unit put us in touch with The Sick Children’s Trust. The charity runs a place called Stevenson House which was located just minutes from Nelly’s bedside and we were told we could have a room there.”

The couple stayed at Stevenson House for six weeks until Nelly was transferred back to the special care baby unit at Southend Hospital.

Nelly’s family are organising a fundraiser at Barru Bar and Kitchen in Hamlet Court Road, Westcliff on Saturday, February 10

To support the fundraiser, visit: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/daisy-baldwin1

For further information about The Sick Children’s Trust, please visit: http://www.sickchildrenstrust.org/