Runners revamp Kidderminster couple's kitchen after daughter's illness

Jasmine Bayliss and Alex Cookson said the running club members were amazing for offering to renovate their kitchen

Members of a running club have come to the rescue after a couple's kitchen revamp was put on hold when their daughter was rushed into hospital.

Soon after her birth in April, Alex Cookson and Jasmine Baylis's baby Evie contracted sepsis and they had to give her CPR at the family home in Kidderminster.

Put on a ventilator, she would not return from hospital for six months.

Like other plans, thoughts of a kitchen renovation were abandoned.

That is until Mr Cookson's running club secretly devised a way to help.

"We've never asked for this, they're just amazing people," he said.

Soon after Evie came home following her birth seven months ago, the couple knew something was not right as she was not feeding properly.

"The next thing we knew, her lips have gone blue, her whole face and cheeks are going blue, she's basically stopped breathing," Mr Cookson said.

Paramedics took her to hospital where she was given antibiotics and put on a ventilator - a time her father described as the "scariest thing" he had gone through.

The members of Amazing Feet running club aim to have the kitchen ready for Christmas

He had planned to renovate their kitchen during his paternity leave, but with Evie in hospital, his running club Amazing Feet kicked him out of their WhatsApp group as they planned to help him.

"I thought have I been naughty, what have I done? The next morning I wake up to a million messages and they've organised all the trades to do our kitchen," the 29-year-old said.

Work started on Saturday and Nicki Fisher, from the club, said every member got involved with some making tip runs or bringing tea and food.

"The Sunday when everybody offered to help, I could not stop crying. I was blown away, just amazing to do it for the family," she said.

Electrician Mark Roelink said it was a team effort from the club's members.

"In Alex's family's time of need, what was going to be an insurmountable task has suddenly become very, very doable so we can get him in for Christmas," he said.