Dozens of people are set to take the plunge and abseil off the top of a building to raise money for the Oxford Children's Hospital.

Among those abseiling 100ft from the roof of the Woman's Centre at the John Radcliffe Hospital will be mum Georgina Gibbs, of Saxon Way.

Miss Gibbs, who did her nursing training at the John Radcliffe Hospital, has a personal reason for getting involved.

Doctors at the original hospital cared for her daughter Abigail, who will be four in November, when she was fighting for her life at just six weeks old.

She said: "When she was six weeks old she caught bronchiolitis. I took her to the doctors and they said it was a cold.

"I called the ambulance and they sent an ambulance directly to me, resuscitated her and gave her oxygen. It took two doctors four attempts to put an IV line in her because she was so dehydrated."

Miss Gibbs, who is a single parent, had to leave her youngest daughter to take her toddler to nursery and was full of praise for the staff at the hospital who cared for Abigail.

She said: "They were absolutely brilliant. It was just me on my own because family had to look after my other three children and it wasn't for the nurses I think I would have had a nervous breakdown."

The family was given toys from the hospital's toys fund and the year after Abigail's illness, Miss Gibbs collected 50 toys from local firms and donated them to the hospital.

When she heard about the abseil, which will take place on Sunday, she wanted to get involved.

She said: "I thought it would be a better way of raising money for them. The only thing I have ever done like this was when I went up a climbing wall and came down again.

"I used to be really scared of heights - I'm still a bit nervous, but I know other people have done it so it should be OK."

Miss Gibbs is hoping to raise a minimum of £500 for the charity, to donate log on at www.chox.org.uk It is not too late to sign up to take part in the abseil and more information on how to do so is available at the website above or by calling 01865 743442.

The Children's Hospital opened in January and will treat more than 65,000 children each year.