SHE IS the friendly face offering support to families whose babies are born ill at the Princess Anne Hospital in Southampton.

Lisa Leppard has been working as family care sister and neonatal specialist nurse at the neonatal unit for the last 27 years.

She goes above and beyond her duties to give families hope during difficult times, accompanying them to meetings with doctors and consultants, or simply providing them with a shoulder to cry on.

Now she has been nominated for a Hospital Heroes award.

The Daily Echo has teamed up with the University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust to track down the this year’s heroes who have made a difference in patients’ lives.

Lisa was chosen by two of her patients, Helen Proctor and Cathy Foxwell, for the support she gave them when their babies were born premature.

Helen’s baby, Blake, was born 17 weeks early and lost his twin brother shortly after birth.

Blake, who is now two, had to undergo treatment and operations for his first four months of life.

Now that he is well, his 36-year-old full-time mum, from Totton, wants to thank Lisa with the nomination. She said: “Doctors and nurses saved my son’s life but Lisa helped us. She was like an angel, she just made a terrible experience easier for us.”

“Nominating these people is just a little thank-you that we can say. It is just a tiny piece of appreciation that would just help them know that they are doing an amazing job.”

Cathy, 42, a full-time mum, from Totton, met Lisa when her son Toby, who is now nine years old, was born at 27 weeks. She said: “Lisa is a one in a million. She was a huge support to our family. Even now some nine years later her door is always open, for texts and emails too.”

Lisa, 50, from Hedge End, is now urging readers across Southampton to thrust fellow colleagues into the spotlight by nominating them for the Daily Echo’s Readers’ Choice Award.

She said: “I would encourage other people to nominate people in the NHS – we all do our job because we love it and we don’t look for awards but when they come it’s amazing. It makes what you do worthwhile.”

Lisa also runs weekly support groups for parents.

“Because this nomination comes from parents I am really touched because I mainly work with them, and to know that they think enough of me to put me forward for an award makes me feel amazing.”

l Send us your nomination by March 10 by emailing maria.zaccaro@dailyecho.co.uk.

You can also write to Maria Zaccaro, Newsroom, Southern Daily Echo, Test Lane, Redbridge, Southampton, SO16 9JX.

Please include a contact telephone number.