A Uttoxeter father of a baby girl who died from meningitis and has gone on to raise thousands for others has been named Dad of the Year in the Burton Heroes Awards.
"I'm just doing what any parent would do," 39-year-old Russ Fisher said after receiving the accolade at the 2018 Burton Mail Burton Heroes Awards.
Mr Fisher's baby daughter Rubie died in May 2015. He, and his wife, Kerry, have spoken about how they felt "numb" for more than a year after the tot died at just six weeks old.
But they battled on and have now raised funds for meningitis charities in the hope that no other family has to go through the same ordeal.
Their son, Alfie, particularly struggled with the loss of his younger sister. The six-year-old still undergoes counselling to cope with his bereavement, they have said.
The family have raised almost £20,000 in three years by holding a number of charity nights, raffles and walks, and were even invited to Parliament to talk about the importance of meningitis vaccines.
Mr Fisher said: "I'm turning a negative into a positive. I just wish people would learn what meningitis is. I wouldn't be able to do any of this without the support of my wife.
"Even my son, who is six, helps us out fund-raising and in any events we do. You just do what you have to do to make it easier to deal with."
The Dad of the Year Award was sponsored by the Alphabet Gift Shop. A spokesman from the store, in Union Street, Burton, has spoken of the pride of sponsoring the award.
They highlighted that families were "at the heart" of their coffee and gift shops and how the business had enjoyed being involved with the Burton Heroes Awards.
Runners-up
Neil Cartwright
Drakelow's Neil Cartwright set himself a series of challenges in memory of his daughter Lucy, who died aged just 12 after being born with a rare brain condition.
Lucy was born with agenesis of the corpus callosum, a rare birth defect which sees a partial or complete absence of the area of the brain which connects the two cerebral hemispheres, leaving those with the condition physically and mentally impaired. Lucy died on April 5, 2017.
The Donna Louise Trust, the Staffordshire charity which supports children with life-limiting conditions and their families, became a happy place for Lucy.
It was a location where she could enjoy a holiday and her family could have the peace of mind that she was safe and well looked after while they had a well-earned rest.
As a thank-you to the trust, and in memory of his beloved daughter, Neil set himself a series of challenges. The first one was the 5k Donna Louise family run, which Neil completed with partner Emma Stewart, 34, and Lucy's sisters Abi, 12, and Amber, nine.
The second saw he and Emma take on the 13-mile Great Birmingham Run in October 2017.
The third saw the couple take on their hardest challenge to date - the 26-mile Barcelona Marathon in March.
Altogether, Neil and his family have raised £3,500 for the Donna Louise Trust.
Andy Yates
Andy has raised more than £2,600 for Cancer Research UK along with his son Alex after battling against cancer himself.
Andy, 46, of Stapenhill, wanted to mark 30 years since his cancer diagnosis with an event to help continue to fund the research which saved his life.
He was joined by Alex, 15, for a sponsored head shave at the New Inn, in Stapenhill.
Andy, who grew up in Rolleston, was just a teenager when he was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of bone cancer which saw him undergo 16 months of chemotherapy in 1988.
He was 16 at the time of his diagnosis and had an operation to remove the tumour and affected thigh bone in November 1987.
He finished his chemotherapy in October 1988 and was officially declared cancer-free in October 1993.
