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Leicester City players have chipped in to buy £60,000 worth of equipment to help seriously ill children.

Defender Danny Simpson and club captain Wes Morgan visited youngsters at the children’s intensive care unit at Leicester Royal Infirmary when they unveiled the six new vital devices yesterday.

Back in May, the club’s stars had pledged at their end-of-season dinner to donate the money to the LCFC Foxes Foundation, which supports various good causes in Leicestershire.

Central defender Morgan said: “Being here personally, you can see that it’s real life-impacting equipment and it’s fantastic to see what’s going to be achieved through it.

“The club has a brilliant relationship with Leicester Hospitals, which is an important part of our community that we can all relate to.

“I hope the contribution we’ve made can have a really positive effect on the lives our hospitals save and improve every day.”

The life-saving equipment includes new baby-scanning device in the radiology department that will help in the treatment of more than 40 infants every month, a scanner for monitoring blood flow in children’s brains, a portable ultrasound machine and a much-needed specialist ventilator that is crucial for very sick young children with severe breathing difficulties.

Right back Simpson said: “I don’t think we realised until we got here what our contribution is actually going to do.

“It’s good to come here and see the equipment, speak to the doctors and medical professionals and actually go through what each equipment does and how it will help.”

As well as the players’ donation, chairman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha pledged £1 million to the LCFC Foxes Foundation and its chosen charities at the end-of-season dinner.

In previous years he has pledged a further £3 million in personal donations to the Leicester Hospitals Charity and the University of Leicester to aid their efforts to treat and research life-threatening illnesses.

Dr Sanjiv Nichani, a consultant paediatrician at Leicester Royal Infirmary, said: “We are incredibly grateful for a very generous donation that has allowed us to get six different modern and sophisticated pieces of equipment.

“If you’re able to use this level of equipment to intervene early at the right time, then it saves lives.”