The mother of a teenager who spent much of his short life being cared for by doctors in Bradford Royal Infirmary is supporting a new charity which aims to help other sick children and their families.

Simone Lawless, the mum of Zak Simpson who died at the age of 15, was one of dozens of runners who took part in the Bradford parkrun in Lister Park, Manningham, on Saturday to raise awareness of Bradford Hospitals Children’s Charity (BHCC).

The charity was set up by doctors and nurses at Bradford Teaching Hospitals in September, with the aim of making children’s facilities more child and family-friendly. It also hopes to provide ‘home comforts’ alongside state-of-art equipment that every doctor would choose if budgets allowed.

Zak died in August 2011 from a medical condition so rare it had baffled doctors worldwide. A lung condition and inability to swallow meant he could not eat normally and had to be fed through tubes. He also needed oxygen.

Miss Lawless said: “I’m supporting the new charity because the doctors and nurses kept my son alive for 15 years and they took care of his needs. I just want to thank them all for what they did for Zak.

“It’s hard being in hospital when you are a child and if I can help in any way to change a child’s stay in hospital by raising money to buy new toys, it will be worth it. I hope that by raising awareness of BHCC, through the park run, that more people will be encouraged to make donations so that children’s stays in hospital will be made nicer.”

BHCC fundraiser Jane Campbell said: “We want the parkrun to raise awareness of our charity and help publicise all the amazing fundraising efforts that have taken place so far, all of which are aimed at helping the city’s sick children.

“We’ve had a terrific reaction to the charity’s launch and we are getting calls from throughout the district from people wanting to help support our work.”

In September, the charity’s first fundraiser saw 56 cyclists complete the 170-mile coast to coast route from Morecambe to Bridlington.

Mrs Campbell said: “Money is still coming in, but we believe the group will smash their original £14,000 target when all the pennies have been counted.”

For more details about the charity, e-mail jane.campbell@ bthft.nhs.uk or telephone 07932 851604.