£20k raised to help prem babies in the town (From Warrington Guardian)

£20k raised to help prem babies in the town

3:10pm Friday 8th March 2013 in News

MORE than £20,000 has now been raised to help poorly and premature babies in the town by a Croft couple who lost their daughter six and a half hours after she was born.

Alice Hiley was diagnosed with a rare birth defect at 20 weeks pregnancy and died in July 2010.

But her name lives on through The Alice Hiley Memorial Trust charity set up by her parents Andrew and Heather Hiley, of Cross Lane, to raise cash for a new intensive care incubator for Warrington Hospital.

The latest fundraising has seen 37-year-old Heather present the neonatal ward with two neopuffs, worth £1,000 each, which work as a ventilator for newborn premature babies.

The mum to Croft Primary School pupil Charlotte, aged five, added: “It’s great to do something that has made a difference and the support is still there even after two and a half years.

“Time is a great healer but it doesn’t go away it just gets easier to live with.

“Visiting the neonatal unit brings it all back but at least we’re there doing something positive and not just moaning and feeling sorry for ourselves.”

Heather and Andrew, who have been married for 10 years, have been juggling running the charity since September 2010 with running their own furniture business and have already got a number of events planned for 2013 including a charity golf day.

Heather added: “In a way it’s easier now because we’ve got a better idea of what works and it started as a charity from the heart not from us being big fundraisers.

“It’s set up as a registered charity so it’s here forever now and if neonatal units need us they can approach us with a request for a particular thing and we will increase fundraising or we will just continue until there’s a need.

“£20,000 feels like quite an achievement and it just shows how supportive everyone has been.”

Visit alicestrust.co.uk to donate.