A BABY born with a severe heart defect and a rare congenital disorder is the focus of a charity event this weekend.

Jessica Steed and Wayne Southall's five-month old daughter, Emilia, was born with a severe heart defect.

After having keyhole surgery and further tests, doctors discovered she had a condition called Williams Syndrome, a rare congenital disorder that occurs randomly and causes distinctive facial characteristics and a wide range of learning difficulties.

Around one in 18,000 people in the UK are affected by the non-hereditary condition.

Jessica Steed said how supportive staff at Birmingham Children's hospital have been with Emilia's treatment.

She said: "Birmingham Children's Hospital is one of the best hospitals in the country and they help so many critically ill children, we are so glad to have the hospital on our doorstep

"They are incredibly supportive and are right on our doorstep, so we want to give back for all they have done for us.

"You never think you are going to need to use them for your children until something happens, and we will be needing them a lot in the near future."

Birmingham Children's Hospital Charity has a challenge to take on 30 miles throughout the month of November.

Miss Steed's group of eight participants all decided to take on the challenge in a single day instead of throughout the month.

Miss Steed said: "We have decided to go a bit crazy with it and do it all in one day as we wanted it to be more of a challenge.

"After a bit of research, we discovered that Worcester to Birmingham along the canal is about 30 miles, so we are going to be walking this route as a group on Saturday.

"Birmingham Children's Hospital has been great and so supportive, we have been so grateful  that they have the facilities for us to have been able to stay by our baby girl's side the whole time."

The group have a JustGiving page, aiming to reach the goal of £2,000. To donate to the event, you can visit https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/wayne1698071024687?utm_source=copyLink&utm_medium=fundraising&utm_content=wayne1698071024687&utm_campaign=pfp-share&utm_term=31233bb53de842028f0bef0bd1004bd9.

Birmingham Children's Hospital supports 100,000 children every year with a wide variety of illnesses and conditions.