A MUM and dad want to raise �3,500 to help support their young son who nearly died just hours after being born.

Lauren Critchfield, 25, and her partner James Cox, of Guillemot Close, Stowmarket, have organised a fundraising fun day for their son, Zac, who needs weekly physio support.

Zac, who will be two in November, was rushed to Ipswich Hospital after his heart stopped beating. He was placed on a ventilator and defied the odds when he came off it when he was only a week old.

But toddler Zac, who has been diagnosed with a rare metabolic condition, now has complex mental and physical needs.

“We’d like to raise �3,500 to fund physio for Zac for a year,” Miss Critchfield said.

“He needs it every week and hopefully it will mean he will be able to walk by next summer. Currently we pay for the physio but we have run out of funds.

“The physio is helping to build up his muscles and showing him how to walk; because of his brain damage he needs to be shown how to do it again and again.”

Zac, who attends a support group in Ipswich, is also visually impaired and suffers from developmental delay.

Miss Critchfield takes Zac to his quarterly appointment at Great Ormond Street Hospital, in London.

The fun day will be at Stowupland Village Hall, on November 17, the day before Zac’s birthday, between 11am and 3pm. People can just turn up to the event on the day.