RAH midwives don their trainers to help family

A team of Paisley midwives will pull on their running shoes to support a colleague and her family as her little boy undergoes major surgery.

Eighteen members of the maternity staff at the Royal Alexandra Hospital will run the Glasgow Women’s 10k this weekend to raise cash for the family of little Matthew Smith.

The toddler’s mum Cheryl Fyvie is a theatre nurse at the hospital and the generous midwives decided to do something to help out.

Two-year-old Matthew, from Renfrew, today faces 16 hours of surgery to remove a facial tumour and a six to nine-month recovery period following the operation.

Roslyn Lolic, a midwife at the RAH, has organised the runners and says the money raised will go towards helping the family through the difficult period after the operation.

She said:“We all wanted to do something to help out.

“We knew we had to do something.

“Cheryl is a good friend to many of us and a fantastic colleague. Her little boy Matthew has been really brave and now they have decided to operate, the family will need a lot of help.

“Cheryl will obviously need time off after the operation and her partner Craig, who is self employed, will have to reduce his workload, so we thought we could help them by raising a bit of money.

“She doesn’t want us to do it, but we weren’t taking no for an answer.”

Though Roslyn has completed runs before, for many of those taking part it will be the first time.

“There are walkers and joggers among us and some runners, but for many this will be the first time they have done something like this,”she explained.

So far the team has raised more than £1,000 but they are hoping the denotations will keep on coming.

Roslyn added:“We‘ve already passed our £1,000 target, but we are appealing to people to keep helping out and giving what they can.

“It’s important to help Cheryl and her family at this time and we will do anything we can.”

To donate to the fund, visit www.justgiving.com/ crowdfunding/ matthews-midwives