A mother has raised £600 for a hospital’s neo natal unit which “saved her sons life” by cutting off 20 inches of her hair.

Lauren-Jade Tsigarides, 27, rushed her newborn son, Frankie, to Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow after he starting turning yellow and being sick only hours after he arrived home.

The mother-of-two claims that without the hospitals help she may never have seen her son’s “smile or watched him grow”.

Here is her first-hand account:

“On the 16th June 2014 I gave birth to my beautiful baby boy Frankie.

“Our little family was complete, we had been blessed with two gorgeous healthy children.

“I was also fortunate to have had a quick, straight forward birth and we brought him home to meet his big sisters Lauren and Eleni, who were very happy to have a baby brother.

“Within a matter of hours Frankie began to show some slightly worrying behaviour.

“He was sicking up after feeds and turned yellow which we assumed was jaundice as this is very common when they are little and his big sister had had it when she was tiny.

“Our health visitor sent my husband Steff and I to Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow to have some tests on Frankie for jaundice and we were not overly concerned at this point.

“On arrival we were seen very quickly in A&E and they checked his sugar levels which were low so he was sent to the neo natal unit to get his sugars up.

“We arrived in the unit and they took some bloods and checked his infection levels, these levels were very high and he was placed in an incubator with UV lights as he had been exposed to the outside world.

“They took a lumber puncture to grow some cultures to see what the infection may be and he was placed on oxygen, had his heart was wired up and had a feeding tube fitted.

“My little baby looked now incredibly poorly and vulnerable and I felt completely helpless and was now in limbo and torn between my poorly new born and my daughter at home.

East London and West Essex Guardian Series:

Frankie was placed in an incubator while doctors tested to see what was wrong.

“Over the next couple of weeks he had several other lumber punctures and brain scans because of the medication he was on.

“They were treating him for meningitis and other possible infections.

“For the first 8-10 days my baby just laid there, he didn't even move.

“He was lethargic and lifeless.

“Fortunately he began to improve with all the medication and the staff were amazing in keeping our hopes up and explaining everything and updating us regularly.

“They continuously checked his levels for jaundice, sugars and infection levels as well as the standard checks on his pulse and temperature.

“After 14 days, thank goodness, he had improved dramatically and we could breathe a sigh of relief as finally he was able to come home.

“The hospital put his being poorly down to Gestational Pneumonia as x-rays had shown fluid on his lungs.

“We now have a healthy one year old who is a cheeky monkey with the biggest smile.

“On Saturday (July 25) I had 20 inches cut off of my long hair, which I have had all of my life, to say thank you and raise money for the neo natal unit at Princess Alexandra.

East London and West Essex Guardian Series:

Ms Tsigarides cut off 20 inches of hair in front of family and friends at the weekend.

“I have not had short hair since I was made to cut it when I was a little so for me this was a massive deal, but I would do anything for my children.

“I wanted to give something back so I was sponsored by family and friends to cut my hair to raise money to help other families who have poorly babies in the future.

“My hair is being donated to the little Princesses trust who make wigs for children suffering from cancer.

“I have so far counted almost £600 in donations.

“We are so thankful to the Princess Alexandra neo natal unit as without their care we may have never seen Frankie’s smile or watched him grow.”