THE parents of a little girl born with a rare condition have been overwhelmed by the generosity of a community which rallied behind them to raise £10,000 to help other youngsters.

Baby Georgie Yorke needed emergency surgery as soon as she was born as her feeding tube was not connected to her stomach.

She is now nine months old and has had to undergo a series of operations in her little life, but is now “full of beans”, according to parents, Vic Yorke and Stacey Ross.

Miss Ross, 26, a travel agent, of Delves Lane, Consett, County Durham, said they had decided to raise funds for Royal Victoria Infirmary’s Great North Children’s Hospital Intensive Care Unit and Ward Nine to thank staff for saving Georgie’s life and nursing her back to health.

She said: “The generosity of everyone has been unbelievable. I cannot thank people enough.

“When I arranged a coffee morning at my mother’s shop, Jula Crafts, we thought if we raised £100 it would be a lot. But people rallied around and made cakes and we raised £600.”

The couple then organised a charity club at The Grove Workingmen’s Club on February 28, with music from The Buskers.

Miss Ross said: “Local firms donated prizes and we had a raffle and tombola. The club was jam-packed.

“We was expecting to raise about £1,000 but the figure reached £2,500 before the event and kept going on up and up.

“Following publicity in The Northern Echo, I was getting contributions from as far away as Ireland. I was so touched when a pensioner from York donated £20. We have raised a grand total of £10,007. 14p.”

Georgia had a condition is known as a tracheoesophageal fistula, which is a connection between the upper part of the oesophagus and the windpipe, or trachea. It causes air to pass from the windpipe to the oesophagus and stomach, and stomach acid to pass into the lungs.

Miss Ross said: “The staff at the hospital were absolutely fantastic and we felt we wanted to show just how really grateful we are for all they done for us.

“When I told them how much had been raised, they couldn’t believe it.”

Buoyed by the success, Miss Ross is considering making the charity night an annual event.