A KIND-HEARTED couple whose twins were stillborn at 22 weeks are donating much-needed equipment they hope will help other grieving parents.

Gemma and Daniel Morgan turned their heartbreak into an act of kindness by setting up a Just Giving page to raise money for a cuddle cot at the Royal Bolton Hospital.

In October this year Gemma, aged 32, and her husband Daniel, aged 42, from Bury, lost their twins Archie and Ayla due to Gemma contracting an infection.

Gemma spent the day after delivering her children in intensive care while the twins were able to lie in one of the few cold cot facilities at the Royal Bolton Hospital.

The cot allowed the couple to spend some extra days with Archie and Ayla – and afterwards they were gifted a memory box and photographs of their son and daughter from charity 4Louis.

The support of both services inspired the couple to help raise funds for an additional cold cot for the hospital and, with the help of family and friends, they raised more than £1,600.

Gemma, a senior microbiologist, said: “It was the most difficult time for us. At first I thought I just had a small infection before finding out I had contracted chorioamnionitis which caused me to develop sepsis.

“It spread to the womb and I was told I had to deliver my babies, but my body was trying to get rid of the infection and naturally went into labour.

“I gave birth to the twins and was taken straight to ICU after losing a large amount of blood myself.

“You can’t ever imagine going through something like this but with the hospital having a cuddle cot it meant we got to spend five days with our babies before saying goodbye.”

Gemma and Daniel decided they needed something positive to come out of the tragedy so planned to start raising money for an extra cuddle cot for the Royal Bolton Hospital.

Gemma added: “In the week we spent in hospital, the same thing had happened to three other families who all gave birth to still-born babies.

“We thought we would put up the fundraiser and start planning events for the next year to help raise even more cash.

“We put up our justgiving page through the charity 4Louis in November, and all I hoped we would make was a few hundred pounds but the generosity from everyone has been overwhelming.

“We reached £1,000 before Christmas and hit our target of £1,600 for 2016.

“The 4Louis charity have been amazing, they supply cuddle cots to hospitals to allow grieving parents to spend precious time with their babies without them deteriorating and also provide memory boxes free of charge so that parents have something to remember their babies by.

“We were in the top five per cent of fundraisers on justgiving for 2015, which is amazing given we only started in November.

“The 4Louis charity have now ordered the cot which will be donated to the ward in memory of Archie and Ayla by myself and my husband.”

The support for the fundraiser has brought some comfort for the couple following Archie and Ayla’s death and the pair are now hoping to raise even more money for another cot.

To donate: go to www.justgiving.com/Gemma-Morgan-Twins