Sarah Brown has said it is "very uplifting" to know research that stemmed from the death of her baby daughter helped save a grandchild of Labour leader John Smith.
The wife of former prime minister Gordon Brown told the Daily Mirror that losing 10-day-old Jennifer after she was born at 33 weeks in 2002 was a "very intense time".
She set up charity PiggyBankKids (now Theirworld), which established the Jennifer Brown Research Laboratory (JBRL) at the University of Edinburgh in 2004.
The JBRL looked at ways to help premature babies thrive, including research into how much oxygen should be given to babies in incubators.
Almost 15 years later, the research helped to save the life of Ella McConnachie - the granddaughter of the late Labour chief who counted Mr Brown as one of his closest political colleagues.
Ella's mother, Catherine Smith, told the paper: "What Gordon and Sarah have done is the most extraordinary gift. They've given us our daughter."
Ms Smith, from Dundee, had an emergency Caesarean section after developing HELLP syndrome, an aggressive form of pre-eclampsia.
Ella, now aged two, weighed 1lb 10oz and for weeks was kept in an incubator fitted with an oxygen level monitor, as part of JBRL's research.
Ms Smith said: "I wrote to Sarah to say, 'I want you to know how grateful I am. I can seen how your sadness is now helping Ella'.
"I could see the incredible care Ella was getting and she was going to survive, and all because of what Gordon and Sarah had done."
She said Ella's late grandfather would find it "incredibly moving what Gordon has done for our family".
Ms Smith is now working with Mr and Mrs Brown to raise awareness of JBRL's work.
Mrs Brown, 53, told the Mirror: "You don't wish this on anyone, and you certainly don't wish it on yourself, but I look for the good I can do, and ensure we contribute to a body of knowledge so more mysteries are unlocked and there are more possibilities for happy outcomes.
"It's very uplifting to know somebody has gone home with their baby thanks to the work of the lab created in Jennifer's memory.
"And this translates itself through to many other families who've also been able to take their babies home. To know if you can do good for one person it's enough. But if it can go beyond that then it's even better.
"And having a personal connection - as we do with Catherine and her family - to someone where the outcome has changed, is wonderful."
She added: "I'm very grateful for the two boys I do have. They make all the difference in the world, but neither Gordon nor I are ever going to forget Jennifer."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here