Support for baby inspires mum's charity challenge

A MIDDLESBROUGH mum is getting set to tackle the Great North Run to fundraise for the charity that helped her seriously ill baby girl.

- By KIRSTIE MCCRUM

Katy Hill has paid tribute to Scott House, saying she is "forever grateful" after it supported her while baby Zara underwent complex surgery in Newcastle.

Katy, 34, will join thousands of runners on September 7 as she takes on the iconic 13.1-mile route from Newcastle to South Shields in support of the charity's 'Home from Home', Scott House. The facility is where she stayed while her daughter, Zara, underwent an operation at nine weeks old.

During a routine scan at 39 weeks pregnant, concerns were raised about Zara's development.

After she was born, Katy and her husband, Martin, were given the devastating news that their baby had a 5cm tumour running along her spinal cord - dangerously close to her vital organs.

At four days old, Zara was transferred to Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary (RVI) for further tests, where she was later diagnosed with a rare teratoma.