| Twenty-two-month-old Joanna Brown from Gask, near Perth, went along to the neo-natal unit that helped her through her first traumatic days of life to present a cheque for £10,000.
The money was raised by her parents Jane and Donald, who held a race night and auction in the village hall last month.
Jane said they had no idea the evening would raise so much money, but she was delighted because the Ninewells unit had helped many people in the situation her family faced after her first child was born on February 9, 2004.
Jane said her daughter was born in Perth Royal Infirmary.
“Because it was my first baby I didn’t really know what was happening, but I was concerned she wasn’t feeding and was a bit lethargic,” Jane said.
And then, when the baby was just three days old, she stopped breathing.
Fortunately, Joanna was with a paediatrician at the time.
Jane said an ambulance and a team of doctors and nurses rushed from the Ninewells neo-natal unit to collect her baby and take her to Dundee, where she was cared for in the unit for eight days.
“They were just really good here, very supportive, not just in looking after Joanna but also myself and my husband and the whole family,” Jane said.
“She received excellent care when she was here and we just wanted to do something in return.”
Donald, who farms at Clathybeg, said the family had been given tremendous support from local businesses when they organised the race night and auction.
Jane said they had meant to hold the event earlier, but the arrival of a new baby had left them with less free time than expected.
She said the spur to get on with organising the event was the expected arrival of a second child in February.
Last year the family handed over £3000 to the unit, money raised in sponsorship events.
The family is now looking forward to Christmas, although Jane said Joanna was still a little too young to understand what was going on. |
