Boys raise money for Heartlink at festival steeplechase

Two Christ Church Academy pupils took part in the Stone Festival steeplechase at Westbridge Park on Monday evening to raise money for a special charity.

Danny Clare and his friend Kyle Evans, both 12, raised almost £100 for Heartlink, a charity that means a huge amount to the Clare family.

Danny’s younger brother Alfie, aged nine, is a pupil at St Michael’s First School. Two days after he was born his parents woke in the night to find him blue in colour and bleeding from the mouth and nose. He was rushed to a local hospital, and then taken to the Glenfield Hospital in Leicester which specialised in children’s heart surgery.

Alfie was born with his heart the wrong way round (‘transposition of the great arteries’, or TGA) and needed lifesaving surgery, only for his parents to be told that he was simply too poorly to have it. One nurse said: “Alfie will need a miracle to make it through.” Three weeks later it came to the point that Alfie simply had to have the operation to survive.

Alfie’s mum Fiona said: “When we arrived at the hospital as a family we were introduced to the Heartlink children’s charity who help support parents and siblings of children who are born with heart problems through what is a very stressful time.

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“One of the main things the charity does is provide accommodation and essential equipment for parents to use so they can stay with their poorly child at this time. They also provide some equipment to the paediatric intensive care ward that helped save Alfie’s life.

“Without Heartlink’s support for parents and families we would have not been able to stay close to Alfie during this traumatic time. Heartlink made this possible for us. We stayed at the hospital for five-and-a-half weeks and have made regular visits for check-ups and further operations and will continue to do so for a long, long time. Each and every step of the way Heartlink are there for us and other families in the same situation.

“Me and Kyle’s mum Karen are so proud of Kyle and Danny. They took it upon themselves to do something for Heartlink. Danny has been a caring brother to Alfie and always keeps a close eye on him and takes a great interest in Alfie’s needs. A number of Danny’s friends know about Alfie, in particular Kyle, who has seen Alfie grow up and was keen to help Danny raise funds to support the Heartlink charity.”

The boys raised a total of £94.57 – a huge well done to them both!

For more information on the Heartlink charity go to www.heartlink-glenfield.org.uk or email info@heartlink-glenfield.org.uk