CHRISTMAS has come early for an Edinburgh hospital after a Dalgety Bay family dropped off their annual donation.

The Fyfe family donate goodies to the children at the Sick Kids Hospital twice a year, every year, and they have done since 2015 when their son, Alex, decided he wanted to help the hospital.

Nichola, Alex's mum, told the Press: "My son, Alex, was the inspiration behind it all. He went to the Sick Kids when he was born, he was just 24-hours-old and he went and had an operation, he's continued to go there his entire life.

"Quite a few years ago, when he was little, he got an Easter egg left for him when we were staying over Easter and that's where it all started from. We said to him that people donate these things, Easter eggs and selection boxes, that's where it all stemmed from and we started doing a Christmas and Easter collection each year."

Now 15, Alex is still enthusiastic about fundraising for the hospital that helped him when he was young. Nichola, her husband David, Alex and his sisters, Jorgie and Derryn, packed up their donation of sweets, activity packs, craft supplies and toys and delivered them to Edinburgh on December 1.

She continued: "Alex actually left the Sick Kids on December 1 the year he was born, we were in there a few weeks so we remember it. It's a significant day, the first time you take your baby home from the hospital and we remember leaving and the Christmas tree was up with the wards all decorated.

"This year, we decided that we would hand it over on December 1, it was really nice to go back and say '15 years ago to the day we were leaving here with a tiny newborn baby'."

It was an incredibly difficult time for Nichola and her family, not only was Alex fighting for his life in hospital, they had just lost his twin brother, Callan.

"It was really nice to go back on that actual date and it be so positive, it was a really difficult time when that happened but we've done so much to try and have a positive impact and look back on that time positively," she said.

"I'll be honest, we were kind of worried this year with the cost-of-living crisis. You can't put on the news or turn on your phone without reading that times are difficult so I did say to my husband, 'I wonder if we'll feel the impact this year', but we've been completely blown away."

Despite rising bills and a worsening cost-of-living crisis, the Fyfe's friends and family were extremely generous and they made it possible for them to take over a massive donation. The staff at the Sick Kids were "totally blown away" by the generosity of those who contributed, according to Nichola.

She added: "It's lovely to see them in real life, now that COVID restrictions have been lifted we can go up into the ward to donate stuff. This year, my mum came along with us to hand the stuff over, she's been to the hospital a lot to visit us but she's never seen that side of things.

"We went into the playroom and she was saying, 'We donated that last year and that!' So some of the toys we gave last year are still there and being used so that was lovely and the staff are really grateful."