A LOVING sister has today revealed how she showed her dedication to her family by tackling a gruelling challenge.Cathryn Mills was only two-years-old when her twin siblings, Jonathan and Hannah, were born three months premature and had to fight for their life in the special care baby unit at Ipswich Hospital.

A LOVING sister has today revealed how she showed her dedication to her family by tackling a gruelling challenge.

Cathryn Mills was only two-years-old when her twin siblings, Jonathan and Hannah, were born three months premature and had to fight for their life in the special care baby unit at Ipswich Hospital.

Since then she has realised the importance of specialist care for babies who are born early, which is why she decided to run the Great South Run to raise money for BLISS, the premature baby charity.

Miss Mills, 20, said: “I was very young at the time so I don't remember what happened, but I know the staff were fantastic at the time and my brother and sister weighed less than a bag of sugar each.

“There were big concerns for my sister but so much was done to help. She has a few disabilities now but very few problems.

“And partly as a result of what happened I am now studying child nursing and want to work in the neonatal unit when I finish.

“It is an emotional atmosphere there and can be very draining, but everyone is so supportive of each other.”

Miss Mills, who lives in Long Perry, Capel St Mary, is currently in the third year of a child nursing course at Canterbury Christ Church University.

She said: “BLISS does a lot of great work for premature babies so it was easy to decide to support them.

“When I was running and it got really hard it spurred me on to think where the money would be going because the reason I'm doing it is so important to me.

“My sister came to watch me and support me too as we have a very close family.

“So far I have raised about £200 but I am still getting collecting more.”

Weblink: www.bliss.org.uk

Premature babies

A premature baby is a baby born before 37 weeks.

One in eight babies is born premature in the UK, around 80,000 a year.

Babies born at 23 weeks have a 17 per cent chance of survival; babies born at 24 weeks have a 39 pc chance of survival; and babies born at 25 weeks have a 50 pc chance of survival.

20 years ago around 20 pc of babies weighing less than 1,000gms at birth survived, now about 80 pc survive.

The UK has the highest rate of low birthweight babies in Western Europe.

Source: BLISS