MOTHERS who banded together to buy their local hospital an advanced scanner have already saved babies' lives.

The group handed over a £90,000 advanced ultrasound diagnostic scanner to the maternity unit at the Friarage Hospital, in Northallerton, North Yorkshire, yesterday.

They took only three months to raise £60,000 towards the cost, by organising fundraising events, including a ball.

The Friends of the Friarage Hospital gave £30,000 towards the appeal.

Consultant obstetrician Kumar Kumarendran has been using the Aloka 4D scanner since February and says it has made a huge difference to the quality of scans on pregnant women.

If it was not for the new scanner, Joanne McCoubrey, from Catterick Garrison, North Yorkshire, might have lost her twins, Casey Rae and Lexie-Anne, now nine weeks old.

Mrs McCoubrey said the scanner detected problems in the flow of blood to the twins in the womb.

Mr Kumarendran was able to monitor the situation through weekly scans and advised Mrs McCoubrey to have a Caesarean section before the situation deteriorated.

She said: "Without the new machine, I might have lost the babies."

Another patient to benefit from the scanner is Amanda Pagram from Thirsk, North Yorkshire. She lost her first child because of complications picked up by the scanner.

Although it was too late to help during her first pregnancy, when she became pregnant again, she was put on medication to protect her baby.

Now 33 weeks' pregnant, she is scanned frequently by Mr Kumarendran to ensure her pregnancy is progressing normally.

She said: "The machine has been fantastic."

Karen Stephenson, from Kirkby Fleetham, North Yorkshire, and Nicki Wilkins from Northallerton, were among the nine mothers to raise the £60,000, mostly in sponsorship from local businesses.

She said: "I have had two babies here and I just felt they needed a newer scanner. A group of us got together and told Mr Kumarendran we would get him a new scanner."

Despite being seven months' pregnant, Mrs Stephenson organised a ball at her home.

Mrs Wilkins, who has had two babies at the Friarage, said: "We went around all the businesses and everybody gave us great support."

The other fundraisers were: Christine Overfield, Christine Dennison, Rosy Bell, Mairhi Mercer, Tracey Powell, Sue Eastall and Fiona Snowball