THE birth of a premature baby inspired a Darlington family and their friends to embark upon a year of tireless fundraising.

Now thriving at 21-months-old, little Rosie Peake was born ten weeks early, setting in motion a chain of events her family and their friends will never forget.

To show their gratitude towards the medical staff who helped the much-loved baby, they spent a year staging fundraising activities and recently donated £1,200 to Darlington Memorial Hospital.

Rosie’s mother, Charlotte Irvine, shared the story of her daughter’s difficult birth with The Northern Echo in a bid to raise awareness of the work done to help premature babies.

Rosie, her first child, weighed just two pounds 3.5 ounces at birth and had to stay in hospital for around seven weeks.

Ms Irvine said: “When I was 30 weeks, she was measuring small and the blood flow going to the cord was not how they wanted it to be so I had to deliver the baby.

“I was sent to Middlesbrough’s James Cook University Hospital where Rosie was born and had to be resuscitated before we were transferred to Darlington.

“She was great after that and has been amazing ever since considering how little she was.

“But it was a real shock, scary and exhausting – I’d had a major operation and I could not rest, I couldn’t stay with Rosie in Darlington and had to visit her every day so that I didn’t lose the bond between us.

“It’s hard to imagine what it’s like having to leave your baby every night and for the first 48 hours, I couldn’t even hold her.”

She added: “The nurses there and at James Cook are amazing at what they do – they saved Rosie’s life.

“The experience has been a real eye-opener, seeing how many babies are born prematurely and realising how you don’t hear much about them or the work done on these wards.

“It was eye-opening for family

“Never in a million years did I think my child would be born ten weeks early and now I’ve been through it I want to fundraise and see as much investment as possible put into this area so that families like ours have as easy a stay as possible.”

Since Rosie’s birth, her grandmother Susan Irvine and family friend Marie Windale have helped to organise a number fundraising activities supported by family and friends.

Ms Windale said: “We wanted to help the hospital as they did so much to help Rosie and her family.

“It was important for us to try and give something back.”

Rosie’s family have thanked all who helped to support the fundraising efforts, in particular those working at the Student Loans Company, where several fundraising activities took place.