Aireborough families' Little Walk will help save premature babies

Members of the Aireborough-based Leeds Support Group will be joining with the Harrogate and Knaresborough group tomorrow to celebrate their babies and to remember the little ones they lost.

The parents will meet at the bandstand in The Valley Gardens, Harrogate, for a 4.30pm start.

Participants, who will be carrying lights, are asked to dress in purple, the main colour of World Prematurity Day, and to donate £5 per family at registration. They are also being encouraged to get sponsorship for the event.

Contact nicky_cellarv@-hotmail.com or manraj_san-ghera@hotmail.com to register or obtain sponsor forms.

National premature baby charity Bliss is getting behind the international campaign on Saturday to raise awareness of the 15 million babies who are born too soon each year, 60,000 of these in the UK.

The charity is also holding a parliamentary lobby day on Tuesday, which will be hosted by the MP for Horsforth and Aireborough, Stuart Andrew.

The charity is particularly concerned about cuts to staffing levels among nurses caring for premature and sick babies. Bliss is urging the government and NHS commissioners to make neonatal care a priority.

The Leeds support group was set up by Rawdon mum, Nicky Emsley, and Caroline Albrecht.

Nicky has been a committed fundraiser for the charity since her son, Joshua, was born prematurely more than three years ago and given just a 60 per cent chance of survival.

The battle to keep him alive was a time of fear and anguish for his parents.

Joshua, who weighed just 2lb, spent 107 days in hospital, enduring a collapsed lung, six blood transfusions and four infections.

But medical staff saved his life, and his grateful mum launched a support group for others whose lives are affected by a premature birth.

The group meets on the last Wednesday of every month, between 1.30pm and 3.30pm, at Guiseley Children’s Centre in Oxford Road.

Call 07747 626671 or 07734 111860 for details.