TEACHERS from an Accrington school will put themselves through a gruelling assault course to raise money for a hospital which saved their friend’s son’s life.

Six teachers and a teaching assistant from Peel Park Primary School in Alice Street, will take part in Total Warrior, a 10k obstacle course, in June.

Gina Seddon, Katie Slater, Lizzy Grundy, Sammy Blackshaw, John Coombs and Jack Walsh will go through the pain barrier in aid of Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, which cared for year two teacher Janine Tracey’s baby boy, Daniel, when he was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect.

In January, he underwent a total of seven hours of open-heart surgery to correct a problem that would have seen his main arteries close up – a move that saved his life.

The 37-year-old, who is also taking part, said: “We found out when he was five days old he had a heart murmur and then after a scan, we realised he had four defects.”

When he was just 11 months old, little Daniel went into theatre, whilst Janine and her partner and Daniel’s dad, Andrew Scanlon, waited anxiously.

Janine said: “After four and a half hours they finished, but they weren’t happy so they took him back for another three hours. When you get to that point, you just go on autopilot but when he went back in, we were in tears.”

Janine said the ‘fantastic’ support of other parents and the staff at the Liverpool hospital kept the couple calm as they waited for news. Daniel made excellent progress following his operation, and celebrated his first birthday in February. And now Janine said, along with her colleagues, she wants to give something back.

She added: “He was never in immediate danger but they saved his life, so it’s important for me to do as much as I can for them. It’s something I will keep doing. We can never thank Alder Hey enough.”

To donate, visit the website www.justgiving.com/coppicecommandos