IT was a family fundraising effort for all the Daley family who were helping to raise money for a cause close to their hearts.

They were raising money for Alder Hey Children’s Hospital at an event after their twin one-year-old sons Hagan and Joe both received treatment there.

Dad Gareth is the head chef at The White Apron, on Church Street, Howley, which hosted a Spanish-themed evening including an auction of prizes donated to the couple.

Mum Jenny said: “You don’t think about anything when you’re there, when you leave you’re so grateful you do not want to forget it.”

Two weeks after their birth Joe stopped breathing and went into anaphylactic shock and Jenny says it was Alder Hey who saved his life.

The toddler had spent a week in intensive care at the hospital and after numerous tests was diagnosed with cerebral palsy and visual impairment.

Then just two weeks after the youngster had been discharged after a three-week stay Hagan was admitted to neurosurgery with a cyst over his eye, which was found to be attached to his brain, plunging the family, into more anxious times.

After two weeks in hospital suffering from a critical infection Hagan underwent a six-hour operation to remove the cyst.

During his time in hospital Jenny and Gareth, of Forshaw Street, Fairfield, stopped at Ronald McDonald House, which gave them more opportunity to focus on their son.

“It’s so hard being there,” said 28-year-old Jenny.

“You just want to make it a bit more like home. Even if we just raise a couple of thousand pounds it’s going to help them.”

Hagan was discharged a week after his operation and has come on fine.

The event raised £1,810 and is one of many planned by the couple after the first fundraiser sold out quickly.

“They saved both our boys’ lives and we can’t thank them enough,” said Jenny.