SAVING the life of their baby boy left a Ramsbottom couple so indebted, they went out to raise a 1,600-name petition against the closure of children's and maternity services at Fairfield Hospital.

Dave and Amy Clark joined the campaign after spending more than two weeks in and out of the children's ward when eight-month-old William was taken ill with deadly bacterial meningitis.

The couple, of Dale Street, Stubbins, collecting signatures in the village and at the Little Frog coffee shop and creche in Ramsbottom.

Mr Clark (34) said: "It's only down to the fact that there were paediatric staff on the children's ward at 2am that William was diagnosed so quickly and got the antibiotics he needed to save his life.

"It can take up to two hours to get into Manchester in rush hour. William could have died in four. By the time we got to hospital he was almost like a rag doll. We thought we'd lost him. If he'd had to travel further to see a specialist we might have."

William was in a coma for two days. Mr Clark and his wife Amy (30) stayed with him, spending their wedding anniversary in hospital with a take-away from Ramsbottom's Yummy Chinese.

Even when he was well enough to leave hospital, William still had to attend Fairfield every day for injections.

Mr Clark said: "We were practically living at Fairfield. It would have created so much more upheaval and stress if we'd had to travel further to go to another hospital.

"The staff at Fairfield were amazing. They were helpful, welcoming, and witty when they needed to be to break the tension. It would be such a loss for the community to see them go."

The Clarks have submitted their petition to Pennine Acute Hospitals Trust, which runs Fairfield Hospital, as well as to the Prime Minister and prominent MPs.

The plans to axe children's, maternity and neo-natal services at Fairfield Hospital were put on hold in February after the secretary of state ordered an independent review. The hospital is expecting a decision from the secretary of state within the next three weeks.