Charity ice hockey match raises funds for premature babies

Leanne and Ryan want to help other babies and their parents following Rosie's death

A couple whose daughter died 30 days after being born held a charity ice hockey match to raise money to help other premature babies.

Leanne and Ryan want to provide hundreds of small cloth comforters, known as Miniboos, to premature babies cared for at Nottingham's two hospitals.

The match took place in memory of their daughter Rosie, who was born at 24 weeks on 15 February.

The event at the National Ice Centre in Nottingham raised £3,571.

The match on Sunday was free to attend as all of the 32 players, including Ryan, paid to play

Leanne, from Kirkby-in-Ashfield in Nottinghamshire, said: "We can't change the outcome for Rosie but we created a wonderful legacy in her name.

“We’re so grateful to every single person who came, sent messages and supported the event – they have no idea how much it meant to us.

“They’ve helped heal our broken hearts more than I can explain and to see everyone there blew us away."

'Grateful'

Leanne and her friends sold raffle and tombola tickets, while others held a bake sale, sold t-shirts and other items.

She said: "The ice hockey team that Ryan plays for, Nottingham Knights, wanted to help our fundraising efforts by putting on a charity game in Rosie's name.

“Every player that threw on a Rosie jersey created a night to remember in our girl's name and played a brilliant game of hockey.

"It was the most competitive friendly I have ever seen, the organisation that went into it made sure it was a great game of hockey for everyone involved."

Rosie weighed only 1lb 7oz (652g) when she was born at King's Mill Hospital in Nottinghamshire

Leanne and Ryan had been trying to have a baby for 10 years when she became pregnant with Rosie following IVF.

Getting pregnant was "a miracle" for them, Leanne said, and it particularly meant a lot because Ryan's parents had both died shortly before, within six weeks of each other.

Due to Rosie's condition when she was born, she was transferred to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Nottingham City Hospital.

Rosie's parents (middle and right) want to provide comforters for hundreds of other families

Rosie's parents said she overcame sepsis scares, seizure scares, emergency reintubation and bleeding on the brain, but died on 16 March due to renal failure.

One of the things that helped Rosie and her parents were the Miniboo comforters, which are designed to be soothing and help premature babies smell their parents even when they are in an incubator.

The family had set a year-long fundraising challenge to raise £10,000, but the hockey match took their total to £9,703.

A family friend's son, Ted, will take on a swimathon on 2 July which is expected to help them hit the target.

Leanne said she was "really proud" of what Rosie achieved in her short life