Mum's hospital walk for neonatal units

When Lynsey Cotton’s daughter, Katie, was born at 26-and-a-half weeks in 2012, weighing 2lb 3oz, she faced anxiety and worry as she spent three months in intensive care at Royal Preston Hospital.As Katie is a healthy five-year-old, Lynsey, 40, never forgot the support she received there and has dedicated her spare time to raising funds for the intensive care unit.Her latest drive is to walk nine miles from The Knowles Arms pub in Blackburn to the Royal Preston Hospital with a small team of fund-raisers, on July 1.The mother-of-three from Blackburn said: “Katie was born at 26-and-a-half weeks and had chronic lung disease.“My placenta ruptured and it was life or death for us. It was such a traumatic time and not nice at all.“Katie was also anaemic and she needed a blood transfusion. She was very lucky.“When babies are born so early there is no way they can survive on their own without being supported and this is where the Neonatal Unit over at Preston Royal Hospital really saved Katie’s life. “She was immediately taken over to the unit where she was kept in an incubator. Over the course of three months she received intensive care to ensure she had the best chance of survival as possible. Without the unit Katie would not be here today.“Not only did the staff look after Katie in the best way that they could, they provided comfort to my husband and I during the time we spent there. Spending every day on the unit visiting Katie was exhausting both mentally and physically but the staff always made sure we were okay. For this, we will be forever grateful.“Katie was very lucky. You don’t think that at the time, but compared to other babies, we were very fortunate.”Just months after Katie was released from hospital, Lynsey began fund-raising.She added: “The unit was fantastic and that is why I want to help as much as I can.“Since October 2012 I have raised money on Facebook by donating the profits from by sweets and flowers business at certain times of the year.“This is usually in the form of food and drink for the staff to enjoy while they carry out their intense work. More recently, I have also started to provide gifts to the family members of the premature babies in the unit; I provide mothers and fathers day gifts as well as gifts for siblings at Easter and Christmas.”All money raised will be split between the neonatal units at Royal Preston Hospital and Burnley Hospital.If you would like to join in email [email protected] hopes to raise more than £1,000. To donate visit https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/PrestonBurnleyNICUWalk?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Yimbyprojectpage&utm_content=PrestonBurnleyNICUWalk&utm_campaign=projectpage-share-owner&utm_term=QJMnXWzXpibing