TWINS whose lives were saved thanks to the doctors and nurses at Swindon special care baby unit have raised hundreds of pounds to help new babies.

Dylan and Flynn, 10, held a cake sale outside Cloud Nine hairdressers in Wroughton, raising more than £350 for the Great Western Hospital appeal to buy five new state-of-the-art incubators for the SCBU.

The Swindon boys were born so early, mum Susan Winslow had not even had time to tour the maternity unit.

Kind-hearted Flynn said of the sale: “It was good. We were able to get more money than we were expected. We thought we would only raise £50.

“I was shouting ‘Cake, get your cake’ across the street.”

The football-mad youngster, who wants to be a referee or club manager when he is older, was born at 28 weeks and spent almost three months in the Swindon special care baby unit.

He paid tribute to those who cared for his brother and him: “I would like to say thank you to the nurses. I had to spend 56 days there. I imagine it was pretty hard for the doctors and nurses there to save my life. If it wasn’t for them I’d be dead.”

Mum Susan, 37, added of the cake sale: “It was amazing. The children absolutely loved doing the stall. It was really nice to see them enjoying themselves so much and being so social.”

The twins and younger son Charlie helped her make cupcakes, devouring some of the ingredients as they baked. Others contributed cakes and biscuits. And Susan’s workmates snaffled some extra cakes in the days after the sale.

In total, the boys raised £350.25. Hairdressers Cloud Nine let the boys sell their cakes outside its Wroughton salon and NatWest donated prizes for the tombola.

All of the cash will go towards the hospital’s £175,000 appeal to buy new BabyLeo incubators by German firm Drager. The state-of-the-art equipment will allow parents to cradle their babies as they lie in the incubators.

The cause is one close to Susan’s heart. Born in 2008, her boys were cared for by the doctors on SCBU.

“We weren’t prepared,” she said. “My then husband John and I hadn’t taken anything to the hospital because we didn’t expect I’d be giving birth.

“As soon as the boys were born they were whipped off to SCBU. You don’t see them. You don’t know that they’re okay. That was quite traumatic.

“It’s an incredibly difficult time for families who have to use the services of SCBU. No one expects it to happen to them, but it could happen to anybody.

“Unless you’ve been a parent by that bedside you don’t realise how amazing SCBU is and how supportive the staff are.”

To support the SCBU appeal, contact Brighter Futures on 01793 605631 or visit www.brighterfuturesgwh.nhs.net.