Little Mia Wallace and mum Jodene handed over a cheque for £2400 to Wishaw General’s Neonatal unit courtesy of the generosity of the Horseshoe pub in Motherwell.
Punters and staff at the pub – who are friends with the Wallace family – had helped raise the money with a sponsored walk and charity night to thank the hospital staff who treated Mia and her twin Jorja, who were 10 weeks premature.
Sadly Jorja did not survive but Mia, who was treated in the unit at Wishaw for six weeks, is now doing well and her mum was happy to be able to hand over the check to thank hospital staff.
Jodene, from Motherwell, said: “The twins had been diagnosed with twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome - when both twins are sharing a single placenta.
“Jorja was moved to Yorkhill Children’s Hospital but passed away after five weeks. Thankfully Mia is now doing well and is really thriving.
“Staff at both hospitals were great. Everyone in the Wishaw unit was lovely and couldn’t have done enough for me – the care they provided was very personal.
“I wanted to help raise the money to thank the staff and I can’t thank everyone involved in the Horseshoe bar who took part in these events.”
Jodene’s mum, Margaret Wallace, who is close friends with Bernadette McCully, owner of the Horseshoe, said: “The pub has been great and they have already raised £500 for Yorkhill. We can’t thank them enough for helping us raise this money for Wishaw.”
The Horseshoe owner Bernadette added: “On behalf of the Wallace twins and the great work of the staff at Wishaw, we wanted to raise money for the neonatal unit.
“We held a Bring and Buy, a sponsored walk at Strathclyde Park and then held a charity night in the pub and we’d like to thank all the patrons and their families for supporting this event.”
Avril McManus, neonatal midwife at Wishaw General, said: “On behalf of the unit I’d like to thank Jodene, her family and everyone at the Horseshoe bar for this tremendous donation.
“All donations like these are very gratefully received and are used to buy the little extras for the benefit of babies, parents and their families in the unit.”