The mother of a baby who suffered brain damage after a traumatic birth is backing a fundraising campaign to improve the lives of other disabled children.

One-year-old Edie Hughes was diagnosed with quadriplegic cerebral palsy when she was five days old – a devastating blow for mum Marianne and dad Daniel, of Oakwood Park, Maidstone.

She’s made incredible progress, but could benefit from better services closer to home, particularly a sensory room at the Heathside Clinic in Coxheath, which treats children with life-limiting conditions.

It will cost £28,000 and i care, the charitable arm of Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust (KCHFT), is running the Gift of Play appeal with the Kent Messenger.

Marianne, who also has an older daughter Mattie, five. said: “Edie arrived on her due date but she had stopped moving in the womb so I had an emergency c-section.

She had a foetal maternal haemorrhage, where her blood supply travelled out of her body and back up the umbilical cord.

She needed three blood transfusions and spent four days on a life support machine. She suffered brain damage as a result of the blood loss, which resulted in cerebral palsy.

“We never in a million years imagined that something like this could happen to us.”

Marianne and Daniel were originally told by a hospital consultant that Edie would be unlikely to be able to do anything at all. They were referred to the KCHFT children’s integrated therapy team at Coxheath soon after Edie’s diagnosis.

Marianne said: “At the first appointment we saw our keyworker Natalie Day and met the whole team – physiotherapist, speech and language therapist, paediatrician and the occupational therapist.

“Between them they worked out a therapy plan to help Edie. She also has hydrotherapy sessions at Preston Hall in Maidstone. Thanks to the team she’s made incredible progress since that first dire prognosis.”

At the moment, Edie’s family takes her to use a sensory room at Gillingham once a month.

Marianne said: “It’s a wonderful space and you can really tell Edie benefits from it as it’s such a calming, immersive environment. Her favourite piece of equipment is the bubble tube.

“If we didn’t use it I know Edie wouldn’t be doing so well or be at the stage she is now. If we could use a sensory room once a week at Heathside I know Edie would benefit.”

For information on how to donate to the campaign click here.