LIFE-SAVING nurses who helped bring a five-month-old baby back from the brink of death will have their efforts rewarded at an upcoming event.

The family of Ben McKenzie are set to hold a fundraising evening in honour of the doctors and nurses working at Darlington Memorial Hospital’s children’s ward.

The staff stepped in and saved the life of tiny Ben, who had been found unresponsive in his cot on Tuesday, October 21.

As reported in The Northern Echo, his parents Dave and Gemma – from Darlington - were left frustrated at a 45-minute wait for an ambulance but are full of praise for the medical staff who took over their child’s care once he arrived at the hospital.

Mr McKenzie said: “As soon as we got to the hospital Ben was rushed up to ward 21 where they started wiring him up to machines and put a mask on his face.

“He was surrounded with doctors and nurses and it was awful to see – a doctor said if we’d waited another ten minutes for the ambulance to come, he would have been dead.

“The staff on the ward were great with us and helped us with everything we needed and gave us a bed for the night so we could stay with Ben.

“They bent over backwards to help Ben and they saved his life so we’re absolutely over the moon with that and can’t thank them enough.”

Ben is now at home recovering from a potentially fatal blood infection.

A charity night organised to raise funds for the ward will take place at Spensley’s Emporium in Middlesbrough on Saturday, December 6.

Dubbed The Children’s Ward Event, it will take place from 9pm until 3.30am and will feature rooms hosted by Absolution and Distorted and sets from DJs including Smurf, Andy Clark, Reklus and Phil Makintosh.

The event is ticket-free but to get on the guest list, donations of £5 or more are requested.

To donate, visit justgiving.com/thee-event or text DMCK86 £* to 70070, with * indicating how much the donation is.