She has spent the last 10 years helping children through some of the scariest moments of their young lives the way only a grandmother can - with a little bit of comfort and a whole lot of love.

In June, she finished the final stitch on her 2000th trauma bear - a small stuffed teddy distributed by the Red Cross to comfort children through medical treatments, personal tragedy, or just as a little comfort in a big world.

"I love my kids," Vicki says over the phone. She lives at Redhead, south of Newcastle and was playing a round of bingo on Friday afternoon when the Herald called.

"I just hope that they're helping children at a time when they're upset, or something's happening, no matter what it is.

"If that small thing is helpful, then that's what keeps me going."

It took around three days for Vicki to make her first trauma bear in 2009. Her grandson, Ryan, who is diagnosed on the autism spectrum, was taken to hospital for a blood test. His doctor offered him a trauma teddy to help him through the procedure.

"The test was very traumatic for him," Vicki recalls, "And he was given a trauma teddy.

"I had never heard of them, but I could see how it helped him - he was distracted by what he had been given, instead of what was happening. I thought "wow I can do this", if this is helpful, I could do this.

"I think that is what pushes me, to think that they are helping children. You know, you've got to look after your kids."

Vicki joined the local Red Cross branch, which distributed the teddies and got straight to work.

"It has just grown and hasn't stopped," she says.

She produces her bears in sets of five, made from carefully selected materials to avoid any allergic reaction, and sent out to children who need them most.

"I think I'm competitive with myself," she says.

"When I got to 500 bears, I though 'Wow, that's a lot. Keep going!' and then I got to 1500, I though I had to make the 2000.

"I was on a mission."

With a decade's practice under her belt, Vicki can now create a new bear each day, but even after making 2000 teddies, she says she would recognise her patterns anywhere.

"I call them my kids and no one has left without having their photo taken.

"I've done things like Superman and Batman and Spider-Man and Wonder Woman. I'm thinking all the time how I could do something a little bit different.

Vicki has filled six photo-books with her patterns with no signs of slowing down.

"I didn't do it for the recognition," she says. "It's just a part of my life now. It's what I do."