An NHS Lanarkshire nurse has raised over £4000 for colleagues who helped save the life of her little girl after she was struck by a flesh-eating bug.

Katie Groome said a one-in-a-million chance saw her daughter, also called Katie, develop deadly necrotising fasciitis after having chickenpox.

Katie, a staff nurse at Udston Hospital in Hamilton, decided to fundraise for NHS colleagues at Glasgow’s Royal Hospital for Children, where Katie was transferred for specialist treatment.

Little Katie was just five when she was taken there from Wishaw General in a medically-induced coma and had life-saving surgery.

Her mum, from Wishaw, held an event at Wishaw and District Ex-Servicemen’s Institute on 25 November.

She said: “The fundraiser was more successful than I could ever have imagined. The final total was £4,250

“We had around 170 people on the night, with guest appearances from Kami the bear (the hospital mascot) and some characters from Frozen. The entertainment was excellent.

“The number of donations we received was overwhelming. We had bottles of wine, malt whisky, toys, beauty vouchers, football tours and match tickets – too many to mention. We also had three auctions, which alone raised £670.”

Little Katie, a pupil at St Brendan’s Primary in Motherwell, has now bounced back from her ordeal.