A Sunday league football team in Southend are supporting a charity in support of a player’s son who was born with a very rare condition.

Chalkwell United Football Club are working with the Sick Children’s Trust in support of Lewie, second son of player Ian Cowen and his wife Louise, 38.

Lewie was born with a rare condition called exomphalos where a baby’s intestines are outside the body.

Within hours of being born at Southend Hospital in Prittlewell Chase, Lewie was rushed to the Royal London Hospital for lifesaving surgery.

Speaking about the operation that saved Lewie in 2010, his mum Louise said: “Although we expected Lewie to need immediate treatment, nothing can prepare you for the shock of being separated from your baby straight after birth. I required major surgery and had to stay in Southend Hospital, while my husband, Ian, drove to London.”

The couple could not afford for Ian to stay in a hotel overnight while Lewie was treated in hospital.

The Sick Children’s Trust gave Ian a “home from home” in Stevenson House, so that Ian could have a place to stay in London when Lewie went to the hospital.

Louise said: “It really was a ‘home from home’ - there was a kitchen where we would cook homemade food, toys for James to play with, people to entertain him when we were preoccupied and nurses who could support us close by. And we were just minutes from Lewie’s hospital bedside the whole time.”

Chalkwell United, who play in the Southend Borough Combination Veterans League, have raised £1,100 in support of the charity through a raffle that they hosted at the club’s annual presentation evening.

Squad member and organiser of the charity events, Paul Baxter, said: “Most of our members have families and so the idea of supporting a charity that is focused on keeping families together and helping with the recovery of sick children seemed like the best fit.”

Lewie recovered from the surgery well, but the family still have to visit the Royal London Hospital so his condition can be monitored.