Gillian Hirst: Yorkshire Three Peaks

Several of Gillian Hirst’s team decided they wanted to raise more money for CHSF following their successful Bake Red Day in February. How better than to raise sponsor money by walking the gruelling Yorkshire 3 Peaks in under 12 hours in May, followed by the Kapow 5K inflatable obstacle course on a scorching hot day in June?

Gillian’s son, Danny, has a mechanical heart valve and uses an INR home testing kit provided by CHSF.

Little People Nurseries: Summer Fayre

Becky, Nursery Manager:

Children’s Heart Surgery Fund is close to all our hearts at Little People Nurseries, the charity has helped many of our families across our settings. My daughter had emergency heart surgery 5 years ago and I cannot thank the charity enough for all their support. We held a Summer Fayre in August and had a fantastic day – Katie Bear even joined us along with some other friends: Peppa Pig and Chase from Paw Patrol! A big thank you to CHSF!

And a big thank you to you too!

Lisa Stubbs: Tombola in Tadcaster

The money was raised by doing a tombola at my shop in Tadcaster and having a collection tin on the counter that customers put their spare change in. The heart unit have performed 3 surgeries on my daughter, Sophia. The first being at a week old and the most recent being open heart last November. She was born without a valve, a hole in the heart, a leak and a double heart murmur. Raising money is a way of saying thank you. Here is Sophia handing her cheque over to CHSF.

Laura Portrey: Yorkshire Three Peaks

We have a 1 year old baby girl called Brooklyn-Ivy Panther. At 7 weeks old she was diagnosed with “Anomolous Coronory Artery of The Right Origin” and at 9 weeks old she had her first heart catheter surgery. Brooklyn doesn’t suffer with any symptoms or problems as of yet but she does have regular visits to the Leeds Congenital Heart Unit to keep an eye on her heart as they believe open heart surgery/investigations may be needed in the future if problems do arise. She is the happiest baby we have ever met so as her parents we decided to take on The Yorkshire Three Peaks on the 30 August to raise money for CHSF. We completed our goal in 9.5 hours. It was such an achievement for us. From day one, Brooklyn has received the best care from the heart team at the LGI, and so have we as her parents. We just want to say a big THANK YOU to everyone in the CHSF team, all the nurses, doctors, surgeons and to our friends and family who donated to such a great cause! We raised £400. Thankyou!

Fantastic effort guys – we are so grateful!

The Scott Family: Casino Nights

Oliver’s hospital stays have continued throughout his life due to Tetralogy of Fallot – a condition which has seen him not only battle a hole in the heart, but sees his heart also in the wrong position. His valve is also narrowed and a ventricle is thicker than it should be.

To say thank you to Children’s Heart Surgery Fund who have helped Oliver since he was born, his parents Lorraine and Chris organised another fundraising event in support of CHSF.

Chris Scott, celebrated his 50th Birthday recently and asked for donations to be made to the family’s fundraising events, and held two casino evenings. They also raffled signed shirts for Hull City, Hull FC and Hull KR.

Chris said:

Children’s Heart Surgery Fund do amazing work for young people all over the region and this is our way of giving something back. We always make sure people have a fantastic time at our events while raising vital funds for such an important cause.

This #FundraisingFriday we have a music festival, a cricket match and even a battle of the bands. Let’s meet our terrific fundraisers…

The Peggy Tub Social Club – Battle of the Bands

The Peggy Tub Social Club in Hunslet organised a Battle of the Bands event for Children’s Heart Surgery Fund in Memory of Bartley McDougall

Kathleen Geoghegan Bartley’s Nanna said

I would like to thank Julie Adams, Nadine Morley, Simone Townsley, Carla Hickinson, Leanne Benson and Anne Hart for putting together the Battle of the Bands event at The Peggy Tub in memory of my grandson Bartley John McDougall.  They raised a total of £1000.04 and we are so grateful for their support.

Shiva & Dishitha – Charity Cricket Match

Shiva & Dishitha organised a charity cricket match at Collingham Cricket Club.

Shiva said

Today’s kids are tomorrows future.  We believe this and wanted to help Children’s Heart Surgery Fund by organising a Charity Cricket Tournament.  We received fantastic support from our friends and families and we are so grateful to everyone who supported us and helped to raise funds for this fantastic charity.

The Miners Arms – Music Festival

The Miners Arms in Morley organised a Music Festival in support of CHSF.

Peter Pinder landlord said

We decided to support the children’s heart surgery fund because it means a lot to quite a few of our customers and several close friends. Thank you to everyone who supported the event.

Ellie Thompson – Yorkshire Three Peaks

I decided to fund raise as my Son Jack age 7 is due his final heart operation, the Fontan in the next 18 weeks. He is my hero and amazes us everyday with how he copes with everything with a big smile on his face. Thanks to Leeds he is living the life he deserves.

Emma is a key fundraiser for Children’s Heart Surgery Fund and has shown continuous support for the Charity for a long time.

Emma recently organised a Family Fun Day at Wilton Park in Batley which was amazingly well-attended, and everyone had a fantastic day.

If that wasn’t enough, after the success of her own skydive with friends last year, Emma also organised for another group of individuals to take on the gruelling jump at Hibaldstow, North Lincolnshire.

Emma continues to receive unending support from her family, friends and the local community, putting her heart and soul into all her fundraising.

And her motivation? Emma works tirelessly to continue to support CHSF due to the care her son Alfie receives at the LGI.

I think everyone knows our backstory…it’s all about my Alfie. From my 20 week scan the heart unit at LGI have been there to support us all through Alfie’s surgeries. This is why CHSF is the charity that means the most to us. I see what help they give others and gave us both in and out of hospital. We’ve stayed in Eckersley House which receives funding from CHSF; Alfie has played on the ward with toys provided by CHSF; and he’s got an INR home testing kit funded by the Charity.

Emma’s son Alfie at the Fun Day

We asked Emma for any advice she would give to anyone thinking about organising a fundraising event for CHSF:

We’ve had ladies’ nights, race night, Halloween events, Fundays and Skydives. I’d just advise any fundraisers to organise events that you know people are going to enjoy and remember however much you make it’s all going towards making a difference to someone’s life.

And thank YOU Emma for being so dedicated to our cause – we can’t wait to see what events you have in store in the future. #BecauseOfYou

Pat & Tony Hinkins: Golden Wedding Anniversary

Pat and Tony Hinkins raised £1170 by asking for donations to CHSF instead of presents for their Golden Wedding Anniversary celebration. Their grandson George was born with Ebstein’s Anomaly and has had two rounds of surgery at the LGI and he came down to Oxford Place with his Dad and sister to present the cheque.

Congratulations Pat and Tony and thank you ever so much!

Jill Dunkley: Conquering Snowdon

Jill said…

I wanted to prove to myself I wasn’t going to let a dicky ticker stop me in my tracks and help an amazing charity at the same time!! I felt that CHSF do lots to support families, children and adult patients going through a challenging time. This help and support, whether it’s the big things like funding equipment, or providing information or activities for patients, all the help makes it all easier to deal with. Thank You!

And thank you Jill and co. for braving the climb. We are so grateful!

Travis Fawcett: Heart art!

This is a charity close to my heart! Being a college student I was asked to incorporate my own art to raise money for a chosen charity. I made a run of handmade lino prints called “the importance of hearts” and sold them to family and friends to raise funds for CHSF.

If you like Travis’ work you can follow him on Instagram

Friends & Family of Lewis Key

Tanya Melnyk said:

My son Lewis was born with a heart condition and through the care he has received this is our way of supporting Children’s Heart Surgery Fund and enabling them to give support to many more families.

David Tinsley: Walk in memory of Cody

David said:

We walked the length of the River Swale from the confluence with the River Ure, to the source near Kirkby Stephen. We support CHSF in memory of our son Cody Tinsley. Cody suffered severe hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, and passed away at LGI at only 13 weeks old. Both in PICU and high dependency, we saw so much life supporting equipment had been provided by CHSF. The work of the charity directly enabled us to spend some precious weeks with our son. Though we had to sadly let him go in the end, we are so proud of his courage, and we all love him and miss him so much.

Ashley Bell: Ride for Iris

We chose to support Children’s Heart Surgery Fund following our daughter Iris’ open heart surgery in July 2017 and we saw first-hand the excellent support of the charity for the families and for the support network of the facilities; for example; the CHSF funded the INR home test kit which enables us to test Iris’ blood level at home rather than regular trips to hospital. In January we came up with the idea of cycling from my home town Horncastle to the LGI – a journey of just over 100 miles. At first we were unsure of how many people would participate in the ride and chose a realistic fundraising target; which I set at £3,000. In the build up to the ride we organised many events including a bag pack; Lift for Iris competition; dress down days and car boot sales to name a few. On the 2nd June 38 riders left Horncastle and despite the rain we arrived in Leeds on schedule and was amazed with the final tally of over £21,000 which we hope will continue to support the good work of CHSF.

A massive thank you to all of this week’s incredible #FundraisingFriday champions! It is #BecauseofYou that we can keep supporting hearts for life. Bravo guys!

Want to get involved? Contact our Community Fundraiser Lisa Williams 0113 831 4810 |

It’s the end of the working week again and that also means another #FundraisingFriday. Meet this week’s bunch of incredible fundraisers doing their bit for Children’s Heart Surgery Fund…

Thompkins Family: Charity Ball

The Thompkins Family organising a Charity Ball in support of Children’s Heart Surgery Fund.

Lisa Thompkins said

My donation is a little of what Children’s Heart Surgery Fund does for our children. I can’t thank them enough.

Lisa and Taneisha popped into the office this week with their donation. A huge thank you to you all for your amazing support.

Alex & Lucy Simmonds: Ran 10K

Liam, my son, has been under the care of the congenital heart team at LGI since birth. He has sinus node disease and in the near future will be having a pace maker fitted at LGI. The work of CHSF makes such a difference to families like ours and we wanted to give something back.

Fantastic effort guys!

Austen Bhatt: Toy Sale

Austen Bhatt dropped into the office with his Mum this week to tell us all about his idea to sell some of his old toys, the money he raised he donated to CHSF as they have supported his family and he wanted to give something back.

Well done, Austen!

Thank you to all featured this week, and everyone working hard to raise money to support hearts for life. If you’d like to be featured on #FundraisingFriday, please drop us an email at bravehearts@chsf.org.uk!

This week’s fundraising tales truly show the breadth of human kindness, endeavour and spirit. Find out more below!

In Memory of Keith Laycock – The Laycock family

The Laycock Family kindly donated £200 in memory of Keith Laycock. His wife Amanda said:

We would like to make this donation as Children’s Heart Surgery Fund meant so much to Keith.

All we can say is thank you and god bless, your donation is going to make a big difference.

Skydive – Agnieszka Butowska

Agnieszka did a skydive for us and raised over £1,600. She told us:

Children’s Heart Surgery Fund (CHSF) charity truly helped my work colleague and his daughter through really difficult times, and we have decided at work that CHSF is well worth our support.

A really lovely reason to help

Agnieszka, and quite a feat to jump out of a plane under any circumstances! Thank you to you and your colleagues for helping us to help others!

Kapow and Bake Sale – Zoe, Rick and Emelia Perkins

Zoe recently took part in Kapow and also organised a huge bake sale for CHSF – she’s pictured above with Emelia, our Community Fundraiser Lisa Williams and Events Manager Charlotte Anderson-Hughes. Zoe said:

It was a pleasure to support CHSF because The Leeds Congenital Heart Unit with CHSF saved our daughter Emelia’s life, and they looked after us all during our hospital stay.

Great to know Emelia is doing well Zoe, and lots of love to the family!

Warmest wishes to everyone mentioned this week – we can only do what we do #BecauseOfYou! If you’d like to be featured here, please do get in touch at bravehearts@chsf.org.uk!

August is already upon us and it’s time to hear about another amazing Fundraiser of the Month – Gina Vanni-Buckley. Read more about her story…

Gina’s daughter Rae was born with

and at just 8 months old, Rae endured open heart surgery to repair the defect. Rae’s surgery was a success and continues to do well, with a bright, healthy future ahead of her and so Gina wanted to find a way to give something back.

On 13 May, Gina and seven very good friends (Martin, Jen, Lizzie, Michael, Vicki, Liam and James) fastened their running shoes and took on the Leeds Half Marathon in aid of Children’s Heart Surgery Fund. 13.1 long miles later, Gina and her group crossed the finish line and in doing so had raised a fantastic £4,255 for CHSF.

Gina explains why raising money for CHSF was so important to her…

Thanks to the work of Children’s Heart Surgery Fund and the money raised by the charity we have had amazing support before, during and after Rae’s surgery. It was such a difficult time in all our lives and CHSF made this process a lot easier for us. All of our hospital visits have been made better by CHSF. From toys in the waiting room for clinic appointments, to life-saving equipment and a place for parents to stay on the ward. Without the work that this charity does we would not have received this amazing support, right on our doorstep.

This dedicated fundraiser also offered some words of wisdom for anyone thinking about raising money for the charity…

Tell your story. A lot of people don’t know about all the work that goes on behind the scenes from charities such as Children’s Heart Surgery Fund – to help make lives better for children and their families.

It’s thanks to support from amazing people like Gina and her dedicated friends that CHSF can continue funding life-changing care and treatment and keep supporting hearts for life.

I wanted to raise money for this amazing charity so that they can continue to do their amazing work and help families like mine in the future.

15-year-old Daniel Woodthorpe (Dan) not only joined us last week for work experience, but has a special connection to Children’s Heart Surgery Fund (CHSF).

He is currently studying for his GCSEs at Ilkley Grammar School and trusts this opportunity will help him find a job he enjoys later on in life. Dan says:

I was born in June 2003 in the Leeds General Infirmary but when I was only two and a half years old I needed to have open heart surgery. Unfortunately, the procedure was more complicated than expected therefore taking an extra hour and a half. Thanks to the staff though I recovered in less than a week and I could go home. After the operation I got given a Katie Bear which I still have today, so that I will never forget what CHSF did for me. So far, I have never let my heart condition stop me from doing what I love, and because of my hardworking attitude I have achieved things I never thought I could have. For instance, I am a black belt in karate and I have won a competition. I also play a lot of cricket for my local club and have played adults cricket which has been amazing. It’s all #BecauseofYou and CHSF. Currently I am doing my work experience and I have the privilege to work at the CHSF office. Its been a fantastic experience and I have loved every minute of it. Everyone has made feel part of the team and I feel I have contributed and helped children. I wanted to do my work experience at the CHSF office because I wanted to give back to the charity for helping me all those years ago

Dan’s father Chris is a partner at Leeds-based law firm Walker Morris – who are themselves business affiliates and supporters of CHSF – and heads up their Housing Group. Chris told us:

Daniel has enjoyed his time working with the Fund, the diversity of the work and helping to seek to broaden awareness of and support for the fund which is special to him.

We’ve loved having Dan in the office, and he’s helped across many parts of the charity – Events, Corporate, Marketing and Accounts. He even took part in GDPR (data protection) training and our team meeting!

Here he is with CEO Sharon, Community Fundraiser Lisa and the certificate he designed for the team!

Fantastic to meet you Dan, you’re an inspiration to other young folk with CHD and we’re sure you’ve got a very bright future.

It’s Friday once more, and we have three new fantastic fundraisers to share. Find out what this week’s heart heroes have been up to below!

Charity Stall – Ethan Blackburn

Ethan Blackburn organised a stall at his school fete to sell CHSF merchandise. His dad Marc said:

Ethan had the stall at Wheldon Infant School in Castleford just selling merchandise, showing off photos of himself and proudly showing off his medals.

He basically wants to thank CHSF for all they did for him when he was in hospital.

Ethan is an absolute superstar, and we’re incredibly proud of him too!

Garden Party – Tracy Massey

LCHU’s Deputy Clinical Perfusion Manager Tracy Massey had a Garden Party to fundraise for the Skydive she is doing in September for CHSF! Tracy said:

The sun was shining and friends, family, colleagues and fellow skydivers gathered at my garden party to raise funds for CHSF.

Supported by local businesses who provided prosecco and raffle prizes we raised £590. £52 of which was raised by 6-year-old Jude Beatson and his fabulous games. He was the real star of the show!

Tracy told us in detail about some of the attendees, who are both friends and adult heart patients:

The two previous patients are Robin Scargill in the red trousers. She had a PDA in 1994 and the lady on the right with the white hair is Anne Aveyard who had an ASD in 1979 at the LGI when she was in her 30’s. The future skydivers in the pictures are myself, Georgina Gilchrist-Roberts, Lorna Davidson, Angela Lilley and Filipa Ferreira.

What an inspiring array of people, we’re really grateful for all your efforts – good luck in September to the skydivers!

Total Warrior 2 – Rebecca Higham

Rebecca Higham (and team) took part in Total Warrior 2 weeks ago and raised a great total for CHSF. She told us:

We are fundraising for CHSF as our daughter had open heart surgery at 5 months old in 2016. We will be forever grateful for everything they did for us and for our beautiful Shae.

You guys are most definitely warriors of the highest order (we love your before and after photos, and good luck washing machine!), thank you to one and all!

High fives to everyone mentioned this week – we can only do what we do #BecauseOfYou! If you’d like to be featured here, please do get in touch at bravehearts@chsf.org.uk – we can’t wait to hear from you!