BEREAVED parents have donated life-saving equipment to Grimsby hospital's children's wards in memory of their nine-year-old daughter.
Trace and Roy McPhee set up the Laura McPhee Memorial Fund to honour Laura, who died following an asthma attack at home in Humberston in December 2010.
Since then, the couple, their son Lewis and scores of volunteers have raised more than £50,000 to better the lives of children in hospital and buy important medical equipment.
They have most recently donated more life-saving equipment to the Rainforest Ward and Pediatric Assessment and Observation Unit at the Diana, Princess Of Wales Hospital.
Nurses received three bedside and two hand-held pulsometers, which monitor the levels of oxygen in the blood, and an optiflow, which provides heated, humidified air for patients with breathing difficulties.
Trace said: "I've been told that the equipment we have bought previously has already saved three lives and Roy and I always said it would be worth all the hard work if we could just stop one family going through what we have been through."
Evonne Zingraf, advanced pediatric nurse practitioner, said: "The optiflow is particularly helpful as it can often provide a remedy for children so that they don't need heavier, more evasive treatments.
"Babies often find it more comfortable than having tubes up their nose and are more likely to tolerate it."
The hand-held pulsometers will also allow nurses to transfer patients from the observation unit downstairs to the Rainforest Unit upstairs more easily.
The charity has also given one of the hand-held pulsometers, which cost just under £400, to the family of a young cerebral palsy sufferer named Daniel, from Grimsby.
Mum Linda, 38, said: "He has been getting pneumonia about once a month for about two years so we need to monitor his oxygen levels so we can get him to hospital if need be.
"The old unit we had was the size of two house bricks, had little battery life and couldn't get wet, so it limited the things we could do as a family."
Support the fund
To help the Laura McPhee Memorial Fund, visit www.lauramcphee memorial.webs.com
