A CHARITY walk organised by the mum of a miracle Griffithstown tot who beat meningitis has raised over £1,000.

Olivia George, who celebrated her first birthday on Saturday, was seriously ill with the disease just days into her life and was taken by RAF helicopter to hospital in Cardiff.

She was so sick the hospital priest came to her bedside and baptised her in case she never made it home. She remained in hospital for nearly two months.

But yesterday, her mum Danielle, along with help from her sister Louise, held a charity walk from Pontypool Park to the Oasis Club in Llanyrafon, for 35 of their friends and family to raise money for the Noah’s Ark Appeal.

The charity collects donation for the Children’s Hospital for Wales in Cardiff.

Mrs George said the walk of about four and a half miles took about two hours and 40 minutes to complete.

She added: “It went really well. There were people from Cardiff, Abergavenny, Pontypool, Bristol.”

Planning for the walk started about four months ago and was held yesterday to celebrate little Olivia turning one the day before.

Olivia is now starting to crawl, her mum said, and will soon be catching up with older brother, Isaac, three.

When she was born at Nevill Hall Hospital she was a healthy baby, weighing 8lb 4oz, and Mr and Mrs George took her home. A week later, she seemed ill.

They thought Olivia’s sniffle was because of hot weather – but things quickly deteriorated. And she was later treated at specialist London children’s hospital Great Ormond Street. She was sedated for nearly a fortnight and her parents were unable to cuddle her for a month.

That is now all in the past. She still has one more check up but it is expected to be positive.