A CITY mum is running the Chester Half Marathon on Sunday to raise funds for the hospital that saved her daughter’s life 25 years ago.

Jackie Holden, a teaching assistant at Highfield Community Primary School in Blacon, will take on the challenge to raise funds for the Countess of Chester’s Babygrow Appeal, to build a new neonatal unit at the health park.

Daughter Phillipa was born on Valentine’s Day in 1988 at 32 weeks gestation weighing just 3lbs 2oz.

Jackie, who lives in the Garden Quarter, said: “We had only recently moved to the area from London and were due to move into our new home the following week.

“Phillipa was so small you could hold her in one hand and she spent four weeks in the Special Care Baby Unit at the Countess of Chester, where the staff were amazing, very understanding, supportive and caring.

“When we were officially discharged from hospital, the staff knew about our circumstances and they found me an isolation room where I could sleep, and visit Phillipa every day. My husband John and I spent many hours sitting by her incubator, willing her to grow, which she did, and we brought her home after four weeks, weighing just four and a half pounds.

Phillipa, a former pupil at Queen’s Park High School, grew normally and is now working as a buying manager in Nottingham for Boots.

Jackie has never run a half marathon before. She said: “Phillipa began running with her dad and took it up more seriously at university.

“They have run the Liverpool 5k, Llandudno 10k and the Great North Run together.

“I have always enjoyed walking, but last year I joined them in the annual family Christmas Day run around the walls with our son Alastair. They ran slower than normal so that I could keep up. I thoroughly enjoyed it and decided to enter the Chester Half Marathon in January 2013!

“This has been a massive personal challenge so when I saw the press coverage for the Babygrow Appeal I thought: ‘This is the charity for me!’.

“We really can’t thank the staff in the SCBU enough for Phillipa’s care.”