October 8, 2020 
Community Fundraising 
My name’s Tom. I had heart surgery at Leeds twice as a child, and on my 27th birthday I’ll be running a marathon to raise money for Children’s Heart Surgery Fund.
I’m looking to do it in a fast time and show the next generation of heart surgery children that the sky’s the limit for them!
I’m proud to say that I was born a ‘blue baby’. This means at the age of 6 weeks I developed a hole in my heart and was rushed into hospital, where I underwent open heart surgery.
Eleven years later I was back. I’d been treading water in a school competition, suddenly my legs stopped working and I sank to the bottom. Something wasn’t right.
Doctor’s found out that my aorta was slowly twisting and without intervention I’d be wheelchair bound by my twenties.
Again, an amazing medical team stepped in to perform surgery, saved my life and nurtured me back to full fitness.
It goes without saying that I’m eternally grateful for the skill, care and compassion of the Children’s Heart Surgery team, so I thought running a marathon to raise funds for CHSF might be a good way to say thank you.
“Instead of being in a wheelchair on my 27th birthday, I’m going to run the Manchester Marathon”
Instead of being in a wheelchair on my 27th birthday, I’m going to run the Manchester Marathon; I’m aiming to be pretty fast too! Hopefully this will send a strong message to youngsters who are approaching or have had heart surgery, as well as making a few of my old nurses and doctors smile. Rain, sleet or snow, I’ll do the training; it would be amazing if you could donate a few quid to support this truly exceptional charity. Thank you, Tom.
What an inspirational young man you are Tom. Thank you so much! #BecauseofYou
You can check out Tom’s JustGiving page here
Feeling inspired? If you would like to chat about ways you can get involved and help Children’s Heart Surgery Fund give us a call on 0113 8314810 or email info@chsf.org.uk – we’d love to chat to you about your ideas!
Are you a heart warrior? Want to tell you family’s story? We’d love to add your CHD journey to our blog and share your story with our families and followers. Drop olivia.lewis@chsf.org.uk an email.
