A CUMBRIAN woman has said she is ‘blown away’ after her charity event raised more than £22,000 for NHS charities in Cumbria and Teesside.

Harriet Storey organised the event to say thank you to the special care baby unit (SCBU) at the Cumberland and the charity NeoAngels at the James Cook Hospital in Middlesbrough who helped to save the life of her baby, Conrad, who was born 12 weeks early.

Harriet said: “On the night of May 14, 2022, our son Conrad, took us all by surprise making an arrival into the world 12 weeks early.

"Over the next eight weeks we were taken on a very unplanned journey.

“We spent the first five weeks in the neonatal unit at James Cook Hospital in Middlesbrough.

“As Conrad grew and his breathing support decreased, we were moved back to The Cumberland Infirmary. Back to the Special Care Baby Unit and the team who saved Conrad the night he made his unexpected appearance.

“The team who worked with speed - yet so calmly - to get Conrad in a stable condition minimising any chance of lasting effects of him being born so prematurely.”

Harriet and her family are so grateful for the help they received.

Harriet said: “Conrad is now a confident and inquisitive nearly two-year-old and we cannot thank SCBU and NeoAngels enough for everything they did for us.”

In order to try and give something back to the teams which helped save her baby’s life, Harriet decided to hold a fundraiser at the Halston.

Event goers, which were made up of friends, family and well-wishers, enjoyed a meal, a charity auction and entertainment - and throughout the night they managed to raise £22,230.50.

“We went in hoping to raise £10,000, so to get more than double that is amazing,” said Harriet.

“I just thank every person that came and helped to raise that amount of money – we couldn’t have don’t it without you.”

Harriet is due to visit the SCBU to hand over the money later in May.