Pictured is Henry with some of our NICU nurses, including Susanne (left, in blue), and his donations

Big brother Henry O’Keefe, seven, was so upset when he saw an advert for nappies for premature babies that he decided to do something about it.

He saw the moving advert, by Pampers, for its smallest ever nappy, during his summer holidays, and was particularly affected because he has a baby brother, 19-month-old Lewis.

His mum, Frances, said: “He asked me what would have happened if Lewis had been born prematurely, so we talked about hospitals, and how they help babies born too soon, and that’s when he decided to raise money for the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at our local hospital.”

Henry, of The Avenue, Hornchurch, immediately set about making a colourful collection pot and asked his family for donations.

After raising around £50, some of which he spent on special premature baby clothes, he and his mum paid a visit to our NICU at Queen’s Hospital, yesterday (Thursday 26 October), to hand over his clothes and donation.

The money he raised was presented to our charity, the King George and Queen’s Hospitals Charity, and will be spent on more clothes or equipment for our NICU. The clothes he had helped choose with mum Frances, 35, were gratefully received by our nurses.

The St Mary’s Catholic Primary School pupil was also given a tour of our NICU by family friend and staff nurse Susanne Watson, where he was able to see the tiny babies he was helping, and even speak to some of their parents.

Above: Mum Frances and Henry look into the incubator of one of the babies being cared for on the unit.

Henry said: “I was excited to come to the hospital and give my donation to the nurses.

“I was really pleased with the money I raised and mummy helped me choose the clothes. We’ve been learning about raising money for charity at school so I’m glad I did this by myself.”