A mum-of-two who often has to spend the night propping up her six-year-old son to prevent him from suffocating has launched a helpline to support struggling parents.

After Hugo Ross-Philips was born, his mouth would foam, his lips would turn blue and his breathing would increase whenever he was placed in his cot.

At the age of two he was diagnosed with tracheobronchomalacia, a condition that results in the weakening of the airway’s walls.

He is unable to sleep lying down without being suffocated by his collapsing trachea and bronchi.

“I’ve had nights upon nights – and still do – where I have to hold him upright and had next to no sleep,” his mother Helen Ross explained. “We had to endure almost two years of doctors telling us ‘there’s nothing wrong with him, he’s just a noisy breather’ after he was born.

“Eventually, we were sent to Evelina Children’s Hospital and it was diagnosed there.”

Doctors offered implanting stents in his airways to keep them open, but Ms Ross decided against it as they would have to be replaced every year.

The difficulties associated with looking after Hugo – as well as her youngest son, Henry – placed added strain on her relationship with their father, resulting in their eventual divorce.

It was at this time Ms Ross realised there was not a phone line for her to call for support.

As a result, she created the Hugs 4 Lungs last year.

It provides a 24-hour-a-day helpline for parents of children with respiratory illnesses.

Ms Ross, who lives in Canterbury, and just one other volunteer man the phone lines throughout the day.

“If someone has to sit upright with their child all night, their biggest fear is they’re not doing a good enough job or they’ll fall asleep,” she explained.

“If they need someone to sit through the night with and talk about anything, then we will do that. We don’t provide medical advice, but we’re there to offer support.”

Ms Ross added she has answered phone calls while tending to Hugo in the middle of the night.

The organisation has supported parents from as far afield as Romania,where a 20-year-old woman went under the knife to have a double lung transplant.

“I’m trying to reach more families to say it’s not normal for your child to be foaming at the mouth when you lay them down" - Helen Ross

“My advice is coming from someone who knows, who’s still living it and who has an empathetic ear and understands what these families are going through,” Ms Ross continued.

“I’m trying to reach more families to say it’s not normal for your child to be foaming at the mouth when you lay them down, it’s not normal for their lips to go blue in the night and it’s not normal for them to breathe noisily.”

The organisation also uses its funds to pay for cleaners to visit the parents’ homes every week.

For more information, visit hugs4lungs.com. To reach its helpline, call 01233 512 888.