For the last 10 years the Yorkhill Children's Foundation has transformed the lives of thousands of children.

In day two of our week- long look at the charity, CATRIONA STEWART discovers how it supports the vital work of medics at the chidlren's hospital...

Yorkhill Hospital is a Glasgow institution. But, as well as treating the city's sick children, it also helps youngsters from across Scotland and the north of England.

Since the Yorkhill Children's Foundation was set up, the hospital has treated more than 1.6million children. And the work of the charity has provided equipment and support to help those kids get better.

Although the majority of children and babies come from Greater Glasgow and Lanarkshire, thousands come from as far away as Shetland and Preston.

Today we speak to three of the parents who travelled to Glasgow so their children could have vital treatment at Yorkhill.

EVA YOUNGER

Eva Younger had an eight-hour open heart operation at just four weeks old.

She was born in Wishaw General Hospital last May when mum Kimberley had an emergency Caesarean section after developing a rare type of pre-eclampsia called HELLP syndrome.

Although Kimberley was ill, Eva seemed to be a healthy 6lb 11oz.

But less than 24 hours after the birth Eva became ill and was rushed to intensive care.

Doctors diagnosed a heart problem – but it took the expertise of cardiac specialists at Yorkhill to discover the baby had truncus arteriosus.

The condition means a single vessel comes out of the right and left ventricles instead of the usual two.

Kimberley said: "It was really frightening for myself and my partner James. They said Eva would die unless she had heart surgery but the surgery had risks like stroke or liver and kidney damage.

"All we could think was, 'Why is Eva here? Why is this happening to us? But she came through it with flying colours."

Eva, now 15 months, was in intensive care for 11 days after her surgery and was allowed home shortly after.

Kimberley, 30, said Eva is now a healthy little girl but she and partner James Crainie, 39, have started fundraising for the YCF.

Kimberley, an intervention worker, added: "We received such amazing care in Yorkhill from the staff who are so supportive. When you step back and look at what's been done for your child and how expensive everything is, it's amazing.

"The whole experience was quite traumatic but fundraising has been really cathartic. It's given me closure and allowed me to say thank you to the fantastic staff."

SAMUEL ADAMS

When Samuel Adams was born by emergency Caesarean at Raigmore Hospital in Inverness the tot failed to respond to any treatments the doctors there could give him.

The little boy, now three, had breathed in meconium in the womb and was suffering from Group B Streptococcus Septicaemia, a life-threatening infection.

For the first few days after birth, babies' waste products are passed out in a tar-like substance, meconium, but the shock of birth can cause the baby to swallow it.

The meconium is thick and sticks to the child's lungs and airway meaning they can't breathe for themselves.

Only four hospitals in the UK have the equipment needed, an ECMO machine, to deal with meconium babies.

Doctors had to make the choice between flying little Samuel to Great Ormond Street or Yorkhill but chose Yorkhill.

Dad Paul said: "We were told to prepare ourselves for the worst and at one point were told to say our goodbyes."

Paul had to travel alone to Glasgow as wife Anna was too ill to travel after her Caesarean.

The council worker added: "It was made clear by the lead consultant that Samuel was as sick a baby as they had received in many years.

"At the same time despite everything going on, which included Samuel being hooked up to ECMO they were kind enough to make sure that accommodation was arranged."

As Samuel spent two weeks on the ECMO machine, which connects tubes to the heart so that blood runs out of the body and gives the heart and lungs time to rest, Paul said nurses looked after he and Anna as much as Samuel.

Paul added: "We couldn't have asked for better care for Samuel and had it not been for Yorkhill he would not be with us today.

"The facilities are incredible but just as incredible are the staff."

Samuel is now fighting fit and big brother to Charlie, aged two, and Ollie, seven months.

ELLIE THOMSON

Ellie Thomson was born so prematurely doctors and her parents feared she would not survive.

One of the smallest babies ever born in Scotland, tiny Ellie spent nearly six months in Yorkhill before she was strong enough to be taken home to Aberdeen.

Weighing just 1lb 5oz, the little girl had to fight for life – but her parents were so convinced by her strength they gave her the middle name Faith.

Problems in the pregnancy started for mum Sara with swollen feet. Having been a student nurse she took her own blood pressure, which was frighteningly high.

Her local hospital told her she had a severe form of pre-eclampsia and she would have to stay in hospital until her baby was born, despite being just 25 weeks pregnant.

Doctors hoped to get Sara to 28 weeks but two weeks short of that date her liver and kidneys started to fail and she had an emergency Caesarean.

Sara, 34, said: "At first I was just in shock and couldn't believe I might have to give birth to such a tiny baby. I thought she couldn't possibly survive and I just cried."

Ellie, now two, was whisked away to a neonatal unit before Sara could even see her and the new mum was left with just a photo of her little girl.

Ellie suffered a catalogue of health problems in her first months: she was on a ventilator, had bleeds on the brain, trouble with her blood pressure, insulin problems, a duct on her heart that hadn't closed and Necrotising Enterocolitis (NEC) which perforated her bowl and colon.

Sara said: "The first time we took her home was so strange. I felt like I was stealing her.

"The nurses always said my baby was a fighter but she couldn't have done it without Yorkhill."

To mark 10 years of the charity, the YCF is holding Yorkhill Week from September 17 to 25.

The theme of the week is Yorkhill Heroes, a celebration of the heroic children who have been treated at Yorkhill Hospital, and their families, the hospital staff and the YFC fundraisers.

To get involved or for more information see www.yorkhillweek.org