The accident and emergency department at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary saved her son’s life.
Now Jackie Brook has climbed a mountain to raise cash for a campaign to save the threatened department.
Jackie, originally from Edgerton, scaled Snowdon on Good Friday to raise money for the #HandsOffHRI campaign.
The campaign is hoping to fund a legal challenge against the Right Care Right Time Right Place plan.
The plan could close Huddersfield Royal Infirmary’s A&E and transfer full emergency care to Calderdale Royal Hospital in Halifax.
Twenty-two years ago her then three-year-old son Jaspar was rushed to Huddersfield Royal Infirmary (HRI) with what was later diagnosed as a potentially fatal bout of salmonella.
Jackie, 53, said: “His legs had swollen up and his knees were bigger than my thighs. He was so poorly but within half-an-hour in hospital there was a rapid improvement.”
The next stage of the #HandsOffHRI campaign
After five days in hospital, Jaspar, now 25, made a full recovery.
Jackie, a care industry journalist, said: “You don’t forget these things and that’s why I’m so passionate about the hospital.
“It also reflects the situation in the whole of England.”
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The mum-of-two has so far raised hundreds of pounds after scaling the 1,085m Welsh peak.
Jackie said: “I’m hoping not just to inspire other people to raise funds in Huddersfield, but to raise awareness that it is going on all over the country.
“If #HandsOffHRI takes it to a legal process it will cost so much money.
“Both my sons were born at HRI – that’s why it’s important to me.”
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Jackie, a keen hill walker has climbed numerous British mountains before.
But she said: “No matter how many times you’ve done it before, you get halfway up and you ask yourself: ‘Why am I doing this?’
“We’re known as ‘the fit family’ but it’s damned hard doing it when the weather is bad.”
To sponsor Jackie visit: https://crowdfunding.justgiving.com/handsoffHRI.