A MUM of three, whose eldest child was born with a rare bowel condition, is to take part in the Great North Swim next month to raise funds for the hospital that cared for him.

Vikki Hoyle will be taking to lake Windermere and swimming a two mile course in the hope of raising a target of £500 for Sheffield Children’s Hospital.

It will be a token of thanks for helping son Joshua, now five, lead a healthy and happy life.

Joshua was born on Boxing Day 2010 at Dewsbury and District Hospital by emergency caesarian after 40 hours of labour, weighing 10lb 6oz.

But at just 24 hours old doctors realised he had a bowel obstruction which required surgery and he was sent to the hospital in Sheffield, where he was diagnosed with Hirschsprung’s Disease.

The condition can cause severe constipation and can occasionally lead to a serious bowel infection if it is not treated early on.

At four days old he underwent surgery, finally being allowed home for the first time a fortnight later.

But even then the family, of South View Drive, East Bierley, were back at the hospital several times a week, with Joshua needing a further two operations before his first birthday.

The hospital has also treated Joshua for severe eczema and continues to treat the five-year-old for a number of life-threatening allergies.

Mrs Hoyle, 36, an associate solicitor at a firm in Leeds, said: “It was an awful way to start parenthood - my husband Tom and I just expected to be handed our perfect little bundle of joy and to go home in a cloud of bliss to start life as a family of three.

“Instead we lived every parent’s worst nightmare, not knowing initially whether we’d ever get to take him home. We couldn’t have got through it without the support of our families or the fantastic staff at Sheffield Children’s Hospital who were a lifeline for us and who were on hand day or night if we needed them.

“We will never be able to thank them enough for all that they do for Josh, but swimming two miles in the Great North Swim is something that I can do to help the hospital provide that lifeline to other families.

“Today Joshua is a very happy, lively, intelligent, wonderful and for the most part healthy 5-year-old who is just finishing his first year at East Bierley Primary School - a milestone that at one point we weren’t sure he’d ever reach.

“He’s also a devoted big brother to his little brother Dylan, two, and his little sister Freya, one.”

Mrs Hoyle is almost halfway to her fundraising target through online donations ahead of her Great North Swim challenge on June 12.

The money raised will be used by the hospital to buy life-saving equipment and fund vital research and treatment.

To donate visit justgiving.com/vikki-hoyle.