A couple have raised £475 for a neonatal unit where staff cared for their sick daughter when she was born prematurely and had blood poisoning.

The daughter of Wendy and Matthew Perkins, Freya-May, was born at Lister Hospital in Stevenage two weeks premature by emergency caesarean in May 2011, weighing just 4lb.

She was diagnosed with low blood sugar and staphylococcal septicaemia, and was treated in the neonatal unit for almost a month.

The couple had wanted to find a way to say thank you for the care and support the neonatal team had given them while their daughter was ill.

They married last month and asked guests at their wedding to make a donation to the unit.

“It’s really nice for us to be able to give something back,” said Wendy.

“We thought we were going to lose Freya-May at one point, so we wanted to be able to say thank you for saving her life. Freya-May is our little miracle.”

Helen Smith, the neonatal senior sister at Lister, received the cheque from the family, and some of the staff who cared for Freya-May were reunited with her more than two years on.