Families thanked for raising £40,000 for incubator

Picture shows, from the left, Milly and Steph Beqo with daughter, Mia; Andrew and Sarah Malm; Simon Featherstone, Director of Nursing and Quality; Sister Karen Wareing, Neonatal Ward Manager

Three families helped raise more than £40,000 for a high-tech transport incubator for premature babies at Ormskirk hospital.

The replacement incubator will be used to transfer babies from the delivery suite to the neonatal ward as well as between hospitals when needed.

Sister Karen Wareing, Neonatal Ward Manager, said: “It was a fantastic amount to raise that, as well as paying for the incubator, has allowed us to buy the necessary monitors to go with it. We feel very thankful and fortunate that parents want to fundraise for us and we really do appreciate all donations, however big or small.’’

Emma and Lee Graham, from Formby, have fundraised for the past three years after their son, Theo, was born 10 weeks early. During the last year alone, the Graham family raised £10,000 by having a different fundraising activity each month.

Steph and Milly Beqo, from Ormskirk, raised £20,000 with a climb of Snowdon in North Wales in which more than 100 friends, family and colleagues took part. Their daughter, Mia, was born three months prematurely and was a patient in the neonatal unit.

Andrew and Sarah Malm’s son Rudy died at Ormskirk in 2010 but the family has since raised £10,000 completing the Three Peaks Challenge. The couple, also from Ormskirk, have two other children, Dollie, three, and Arty, two.

Simon Featherstone, Director of Nursing and Quality for Southport and Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust, said: “The Trust and the communities we serve are very fortunate indeed to benefit from the generosity of spirit of these inspirational individuals.

“I want to thank them and everyone who contributed time and money towards the transport incubator which will be a lifesaver for babies for years to come.”