THE parents of a baby girl who died after developing breathing and feeding difficulties will hold event to raise funds for a charity which supported them while their daughter was being treated in hospital.

Sophie and Nick Horsburgh will stage a family fun day on Sunday, (May 25), from noon, at Ripon Football Club, to thank The Sick Children’s Trust for enabling them to stay near Leeds General Infirmary children’s ward, where their baby, Brooke, was treated for six months.

The couple said after Brooke was born six weeks’ prematurely in March 2011, she became unwell and was admitted to the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle, where they stayed at the trust’s Crawford House.

After two months, and with a tracheostomy to help her breathe, Brooke returned home.

A short time later Brooke was admitted to the Leeds hospital in a critical condition, where doctors performed life-saving surgery and the couple were told to prepare for the worst as they stayed in the trust’s nearby Eckersley House.

Brooke pulled through the surgery but, due to her feeding problems, she needed many more operations and was fed through a tube before her life support was stopped in February 2012.

Mrs Horsburgh, of Harrogate, said: “It was heart breaking for Nick and I to see our little girl go through so very much.

“The Sick Children’s Trust helped so much. Eckersley House became our refuge, almost like a second home providing all the facilities we needed as a family and only minutes from the children’s ward allowing us so much more precious time with Brooke.”

The fundraising day will include a bouncy castle, face-painting, a football match and a barbecue.