THE family of a baby which died after a seven-day fight for life wants to set up a charity in her memory.

Doctors switched off the life-support machine for Faith Cook last Thursday after she showed no improvement in her condition.

Her mum Helen Benson, 26, and dad Tom Cook, 31, now want to remember their daughter by fundraising in her name.

The pair said doctors at Royal Blackburn Hospital, where Faith spent her life attached to a life-support machine, believed she had contracted toxoplasmosis in the womb. After the birth she could not breathe on her own.

But now doctors do not believe it was toxoplasmosis that killed her, because Mrs Benson had the infection before Faith was conceived.

A post-mortem examination is to be completed this week in a bid to discover what killed her and the family hopes to hold her funeral within the next two weeks.

Mrs Benson said: “We want to raise awareness of the dangers of toxoplasmosis.

"Not enough is known about the condition and the devastating affect it can have.

“Even though we now know Faith probably didn’t die because of the condition, we have been shocked at the lack of information about it.

“Through the creation of a charity, we want to raise money to produce leaflets and posters for expecting mothers and we also hope to work with Derian House children’s hospice.”

Toxo-plasmosis is caused by a parasite that gets into the bloodstream.

The day of Faith’s death was the first time Mrs Benson had been able to hold her daughter.

In the UK, about 2,000 women a year contract the condition while they are pregnant.

The effect on the baby depends on how early it is caught.

Faith’s funeral is at Hillside Methodist Church, Parke Road, Brinscall, on February 11.

It is family flowers only and donations can go to the hospital’s neo-natal intensive care unit.

People are requested not to wear black. The time is to be confirmed.