A GRIEVING family hopes to pay back staff at Oxford Children's Hospital for giving them precious memories with their miracle baby.

May Rose Gibney defied doctors' warnings that she would live mere minutes, surviving for more than six months despite been born with her brain outside of her skull.

Surgeons at the hospital, at the John Radcliffe Hospital site, in Headington, carried out a major operation in August and she lived until October, taking her final breath in the arms of brave mother Analee Gibney.

Miss Gibney, who lived in Blackbird Leys for five years before moving to Northern Ireland, is now rallying funds to buy the Headington hospital a 'cuddle cot'.

The cots cost about £1,600 and keep babies cool after they have passed away, so parents can take time until they are ready to say goodbye forever.

Her cousin Claire Gibbons, who lives in Blackbird Leys, said: "The hospital was absolutely brilliant, we couldn't fault it.

"The family is still grieving, but there will be a light at the end of the tunnel."

May Rose battled a rare brain condition called Encephalocele, and doctors predicted she would be stillborn.

Mrs Gibbons, 37, "When she was born I couldn't believe it, she was trying to kick her legs - something that wasn't supposed to happen. She was stronger than we ever could have thought she could be."

May Rose's 25-year-old mum Miss Gibney, who lives in Moy in County Tyrone, is organising events to fundraise for cuddle cots and 'snuggle mats', which work on a similar concept.

Access to a cuddle cot in Northern Ireland meant she was able to spend time with her baby and come to terms with her death.

One event will be staged in Oxford on Sunday, March 4 – one week before it would have been May Rose's first birthday – and the family are hoping to find a suitable venue to welcome them for free.

Littlemore Rugby Club volunteered its premises to the family last July, for a fundraiser for May Rose's operation, but this year the family hope to find somewhere with tables.

The plan is to welcome stallholders for a bring-and-buy fair, raffle and activities, then release balloons in May Rose's memory.

Mrs Gibbons, who is helping to arrange the event, said: "A lot of people don't like to give the venue for nothing but even if it's just for a couple of hours, it means all the money can go to the cuddle cots and snuggle mats."

The family have a strong connection to Oxford, with relatives in Barton, Headington and Blackbird Leys, which is also home to May Rose's grandma, Paula Williams.

Miss Gibney's mum Maggie Gibney, who lives with her only daughter in Moy, said May Rose 'is a wee angel now'.

The 55-year-old said her granddaughter spent more than three weeks at the hospital in Oxford, adding: "We just want to pay back the John Radcliffe Hospital [where the children's hospital is based], and two of the hospitals here in Ireland.

"May Rose wasn't expected to even live for an hour. She fought and fought. She won her battle for six and a half months and we are lucky to have those great memories.

"She survived the operation but when they turned the machine off said she wouldn't be able to breathe on her own, and she did. It was incredible.

"She did a lot of the things we thought she'd never be able to. She was moving her limbs and she was smiling, and she could hear us. It's amazing. She was absolutely beautiful.

"She had a great fight in her. All she wanted to do was live and be with her mummy."

If anyone can offer the family a venue for the fundraiser, please email sophie.grubb@oxfordmail.co.uk or ring 01865 425429.