It’s #FundraisingFriday! The end of another working week means another chance for us to shout from the rooftops about our amazing supporters! Keep reading to see what they’ve been getting up to…

The Dyson Family

Emily said:

Last year we found out Alice had a heart murmur at 3 days old. A few weeks later she was diagnosed with a large VSD, two further small holes and pulmonary stenosis – and she is due to be having surgery next week.

Alice’s sister, Lila, and one of my best friends who is a teacher in Lincolnshire both decided to do a school bake sale to raise some money for Children’s Heart Surgery Fund. In total they raised over £180!

We would like to thank everyone who took part in both sales – including our local cake maker Mellisscious who donated some beautiful cupcakes!

Lila’s teacher and Year 5 classmates really supported her to promote the sale and lots of them made/brought in some amazing treats, we were really grateful and impressed.

Fantastic work Lila and everyone at your school for bringing, making and buying cakes! We hope you all had an great day and we so grateful for all your hard work!

Sunbeams Nursery Thorpe Park

Andrew from Sunbeams said:

We became aware of Children’s Heart Surgery Fund when one of our children at Sunbeams became a patient.

We now realise what a wonderful charity this is and are proud to provide continuing support to help other children in similar circumstances

Feeling inspired to give something back and raise much-needed funds for a great cause? Get in touch with Lisa Williams, on lisa.williams@chsf.org.uk | 0113 831 4810 or download our events calendar here for inspiration and to see other ways to get involved.

We’re thrilled to launch an empowering campaign to celebrate National Selfie Day today (June 21).

#ScarSelfie celebrates patients with congenital heart disease (CHD) who have scars following surgery and other procedures.

CHSF are encouraging these patients to share intimate photos of their scars with the hashtag #ScarSelfie, to inspire, encourage and enlighten others.

You can see the campaign by searching for #ScarSelfie or Children’s Heart Surgery Fund on Facebook and Instagram.

Joey Watts is 6-years-old and from Beverley, near Hull.

He has a condition called supravalvular aortic stenosis, and needed life-saving open heart surgery just 4 weeks ago to widen the vessel that carries blood from his heart to the rest of his body.

His dad Martin decided to have Joey’s scar tattooed on his own chest, so his son knew the scar was something to be proud of.

Joey’s mum Leanne told us the family are fully behind the campaign and said:

All of these warriors should be proud of their scars and all they achieve in life.

We have another little boy called Harley with the same condition who will also be having surgery in the near future.

So to us this is an amazing thing to do to spread awareness, and maybe encourage a few more people help to fundraise for such a fantastic cause.

Please help us continue to supporting hearts for life by clicking here.

At the time of writing, the story has already been picked up by the Daily Mirror, Leeds Live and the Yorkshire Evening Post.

Our CEO Sharon Milner added:

We fully understand that showing a scar picture is a very personal decision, and not for everyone. However we have run this campaign in previous years and know the positive message it brings.

We are blown away by the bravery and resilience of the hundreds of CHD patients who undergo open heart surgery and life-saving procedures at the Leeds Congenital Heart Unit every day – like Joey.

This campaign is one way of celebrating the incredible stories of these heart warriors. Please do take part if you can, and support our wonderful cause by way of donations.

Thank you, we are only able to do what we do because of you.

A huge WELL DONE to all our amazing supporters smashing it this week! Happy #FundraisingFriday everyone!

Davina Brown: Fun Day

Davina said:

I raised the money because my son, Cayden, was born with a congenital heart defect and I wanted to give back and help other kids.

We did a fun day at Jolly Jumpers play centre and did a tombola, raffle and bake sale with the help of my lovely friends

I coudn’t have done it without their help x

Nikki Przewoznik: Leeds Half

Nikki said:

Children’s Heart Surgery Fund have demonstrated an amazing ability to give children and adults a brighter future. When an opportunity arises to raise funds for CHSF, I have zero hesitation in being the first to sign up!

At Children’s Heart Surgery Fund we are so incredibly lucky to have so many fantastic supporters all out there fundraising for us and flying the flag for our charity. To recognise all your amazing hard work, each month we like to pick a Fundraiser of the Month. Here we are in June – everybody meet Dave Wilson!

Dave and Jayne’s daughter Alexa was born in 1999 with Down syndrome, cataracts and when she was a week old, was diagnosed with an AVSD.

Alexa’s mum Jayne tell us a bit more about her daughter’s story…

Alexa’s cardiologist, Dr Parsons, advised us that she would require open heart surgery. At 8 weeks old Alexa became very unwell and was transferred to the LGI.

This was a very scary time for us and we had to leave our other two children, age 3 and 6 with grandparents.

I was thankfully given a room in the hospital that allowed me to stay close by, whilst Dave travelled to and from our home in Scunthorpe.

Alexa’s surgery was complicated and her recovery was slow. During this time, we were in awe of the dedication and skill of Miss Carin Van Doorn and the surgical team, nurses and support staff.

We felt that she was in the best of hands at all times and our needs, as her parents, were considered throughout. Alexa returned home but still had a leaky valve so we knew that she would require further surgery at some point.

With the very great care of her cardiologists, Dr Parsons and Dr Gibbs she remained well until the age of nine when she was again transferred to the LGI for a mitral valve replacement.

Unfortunately, this time, her heart was enlarged and the surgery and subsequent pacemarker insertion did not lead to recovery.

She was then transferred to the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle, while still ventilated, in order to be placed on the heart transplant register. Alexa received a Berlin Heart device under their care but sadly suffered a stroke before a heart was found. She passed away a month before her 10th birthday.

The death of our beautiful, brave little girl was utterly devastating but without the incredible work of the Children’s Heart Surgery Fund and the team at the LGI, we would not have had the joy of those wonderful years together.

Children’s Heart Surgery Fund helped support Alexa’s treatment and assisted us in coping with this and our time away from the rest of our family. We wanted to be able to give something back as a symbol of our gratitude and to ensure that your great work continues.

Dave Wilson is our Fundraiser of the Month and he has organised an annual charity ball for nine years which altogether has raised an incredible amount for CHSF.

Dave tell us a bit more about other fundraising his family have done…

As well as the charity balls, we have held a golf day at Forest Pines which raised £1000. My son, Charlie held a football match, sold tickets etc and raised £500 which was brilliant – all at just 15 years old!

We asked Dave if there was any advice he would give to other fundraisers…

“My advice is to engage family and friends in an activity that they would enjoy, in order to raise money.

We live in difficult economic times and businesses have limited funds to make donations to fundraising initiatives.

Letters asking for support need to be very carefully worded. It is important that we highlight the fact that all children in our area who suffer cardiac defects will be treated at the Leeds Congenital Heart Unit and therefore it is so important that we all support Children’s Heart Surgery Fund. Thank you CHSF for all the fantastic work you do!

Are you feeling inspired? If you think you or an organisation you are part of could raise money for CHSF get in touch with Lisa Williams on lisa.williams@chsf.org.uk 0113 831 4810 for more info!

Children’s Heart Surgery Fund (CHSF) have launched an empowering campaign to celebrate National Selfie Day today (June 21).

#ScarSelfie celebrates patients with congenital heart disease (CHD) who have scars following surgery and other procedures.

CHSF are encouraging these patients to share intimate photos of their scars with the hashtag #ScarSelfie, to inspire, encourage and enlighten others. You can see the campaign by searching for

Children’s Heart Surgery Fund

on Facebook and Instagram.

Supporters are also encouraged to donate to the charity, which supports the Leeds Congenital Heart Unit at the Leeds Children’s Hospital.

Joey Watts is 6-years-old and from Beverley, near Hull. He has a condition called supravalvular aortic stenosis, and needed life-saving open heart surgery just 4 weeks ago to widen the vessel that carries blood from his heart to the rest of his body. His dad Martin decided to have Joey’s scar tattooed on his own chest, so his son knew the scar was something to be proud of. Joey’s mum Leanne says the family are fully behind the campaign and said:

“All of these warriors should be proud of their scars and all they achieve in life.”

“We have another little boy called Harley with the same condition who will also be having surgery in the near future.

“So to us this is an amazing thing to do to spread awareness, and maybe encourage a few more people help to fundraise for such a fantastic cause.”

Sharon Milner, CEO of CHSF, said:

”We fully understand that showing a scar picture is a very personal decision, and not for everyone. However we have run this campaign in previous years and know the positive message it brings.”

“We are blown away by the bravery and resilience of the hundreds of CHD patients who undergo open heart surgery and life-saving procedures at the Leeds Congenital Heart Unit every day – like Joey.”

“This campaign is one way of celebrating the incredible stories of these heart warriors. Please do take part if you can, and support our wonderful cause by way of donations.”

Find out more about the work of CHSF and make a donation at

chsf.org.uk

“Hello! My name is Thomas Donald and this year for my birthday I decided to hold a Facebook Birthday Fundraiser in aid of the Children’s Heart Surgery Fund.”

The charity is close to my heart (literally!) as I am a congenital heart patient. At just 4 weeks old, I underwent open heart surgery which included arterial switch of both my main and coronary arteries, coarctation of main arteries and the repair of a hole in my heart.

It’s thanks to this amazing hospital, the Leeds Congenital Heart Unit and wonderful charity that I made it to my first birthday, let alone my 26th!

I initially set my target to £260, hoping between my friends and family we could raise £10 to mark each year of my life, but we smashed that in less than 24 hours! I raised the target to £500 – and again thanks to the kindness of my Facebook friends and connections we reached that goal in just a few days.

I decided to be a bit cheeky and upped the goal to £1000, never really believing we could do that in just a week or so to my birthday…but we did! I still can’t believe how amazingly kind and supportive people have been.

Through the power of Facebook, I received donations from family, friends, co-workers, people I haven’t seen since I left school or who I worked with years ago. Even friends of friends or family who just wanted to support this wonderful cause.

It was so easy to do, in fact Facebook even suggests you might want to hold a fundraiser a couple of weeks before your birthday, so you don’t even have to remember to do it. All it takes is a few clicks to set it up and share with your friends and that’s it!

I’ve definitely caught the fundraising bug and am already trying to think of ways I can raise more money to help the charity do what they do, helping families like mine go through the toughest times in their lives.

I’d like to raise money but also help raise awareness and share my story to hopefully show those families going through everything now to know that there is hope.

When I see those pictures of me at 4 weeks old hooked up to all of those machines I honestly can’t believe that’s me. I’m now 26, the Head Chef of a 3-restaurant chain in Sheffield and living a happy and healthy life and, other than my 2-yearly check-ups at LGI, even I sometimes forget I have a heart condition!

There is hope and, thanks to this incredible charity, there is always help and support available. Thank you, from the bottom of my big dodgy heart!

A Facebook Fundraiser lets you raise money on Facebook and Children’s Heart Surgery Fund get 100% of the donations!

Start a fundraiser

Today our Corporate Partnerships Manager, Georgie, visited one of our Cardiac Liaison Nurses to find out how Kardia Mobile Devices are helping young patients on Ward 51.

Georgie said:

“It was brilliant to meet Elaine and hear more about this specialist piece of equipment. We have recently been able to deliver 60 new Kardia Mobile Devices for the nurses to give to patients following a very generous donation from Caddick Construction Ltd. We are incredibly grateful for their support.”

James Oliver, Consultant Adult Congenital Cardiologist, was also thrilled to receive this new delivery of devices.

“We’ve found the mobile devices to be of great value. They have been instrumental in diagnosing important heart rhythm abnormalities in some patients and in others they provide reassurance that symptoms such as palpitations are of no concern.”

A huge thank you again to Caddick Development Ltd!

Today not only marks the last day of May (where has the time gone?!) but also #FundraisingFriday! Meet the incredible supporters making CHSF super proud this week!

Chris Allan – South Yorkshire Pensions Authority

Chris said:

I recently ran the Sheffield 1/2 marathon in memory of Lucas Brook Tewson. This was to support a friend and his wife and to raise money and awareness for Children’s Heart Surgery Fund.

Thank you to everyone who contributed in helping raise £310 to this very worthy cause and making a difference to a child’s life.

D&R Plumbing and Heating Contractors, Barnsley

In loving memory of Lucas Brook Tewson, the staff of D&R Plumbing and Heating Contractors Ltd based in Barnsley organised a ‘Wear Red Day’ fundraising event for CHSF.

Lucas passed away on 18th July 2018 aged 4 months due to a complex type of congenital heart disease.

He will be remembered always as a beautiful, brave and courageous baby boy much loved by all who were lucky enough to know him.

An incredible £760.00 was raised.

Thank you D&R, Absolute Web Design, CMS, Crosslings and thank you Lucas.

Whether you bake a cake, wear something silly or run a marathon, every penny you raise for CHSF goes straight to supporting hearts for life. What will you commit to this #FundraisingFriday? Read more for inspiration…

Amanda Buckley

Amanda took part in Wear Red Day this year and raised over £800 for CHSF.

Amanda said:

Children’s Heart Surgery Fund have always been there for us, especially through our difficult journey last year when Kayden had open heart surgery.

The whole team at the Leeds Congenital Heart Unit and CHSF are amazing and we will be forever thankful to you all!

Children’s Corner, Farsley

Deputy Manager, Rebecca said:

We wanted to support Wear Red Day as one of our children has had heart surgery, and we know what a difference Children’s Heart Surgery Fund make to the whole family.

At Children’s Corner we held a bun sale during the week and the whole nursery wore something red!

Leigh-Anne Webster

Leigh-Anne Webster took on the Windermere Marathon for CHSF.

Leigh-Anne said:

It was an emotional and physically challenging day but amazing!! Quite possibly one of the hardest things I’ve ever done but it was totally worth it.

I’m very proud of the money raised for Children’s Heart Surgery Fund. It’s an amazing cause and has been a part of my life personally.

My baby nephew, Sebastian, was admitted to PICU at at Leeds Children’s Hospital around Christmas time, only 3 months old when he was admitted.

He was in hospital for 3 months and we didn’t expect him to recover from his life threatening condition, but he defied all odds and is now at home with his family where he should be.

He still has Trifunctional Protein Deficiency for life and a poorly heart but he is a fighter and we hope that he will only grow stronger and get better over time.

We all believe the equipment supplied at the Leeds Congenital Heart Unit and the staff helped keep Sebastian alive which we are all so very much grateful for.

Lisa Stubbs, Simply a Party

Lisa said:

The money was raised by doing a Christmas gift fair. We added it to the money that little girl, Sophia raised doing the Superhero Walk.

Children’s Heart Surgery Fund is such an amazing charity, without them fighting for the Leeds Congenital Heart Unit and raising vital funds I don’t think my little girl would have got through her three surgeries and procedures as she did. Thank you CHSF and all the medical staff!

This #FundraisingFriday we want to celebrate all our amazing RUNNERS with a LEEDS HALF MARATHON SPECIAL. Meet our charity champions, who flew the CHSF flag all the way around the 13.1 mile course last weekend and find out what inspired them to keep going!

Abbey Halliwell

Abbey said:

This was one of the hardest things I have ever done with no training and I am definitely not a runner.

I did nearly give up at one point but I knew I couldn’t because those children don’t give up and they inspired me to carry on.

Alex Stokes

Alex said:

I did the Leeds 1/2 on behalf of my good friends son who sadly passed away after just one month, but had a lot of help from CHSF at Leeds Children’s Hospital, who supported his family throughout.

I wanted to run this and raise money so other families can get the help they did.

Chloe Reynolds

Chloe said:

I chose to run the Leeds Half Marathon for Children’s Heart Surgery Fund because it is a local charity which supports not only children and young people in such a difficult time in their lives but also their families.

Simon Collins

Simon said:

I support the amazing work undertaken by CHSF in order to repay my gratitude for the help and support they provided whilst my daughter had a VSD repaired at the age of three months.

I really enjoyed the challenge of preparing for the Leeds Half and look forward to my next event to support Children’s Heart Surgery Fund!

Dan Thorpe

Dan said:

The reason I ran the Leeds Half Marathon for CHSF is because they helped out a lot when my daughter had a suspected heart defect and so I wanted to repay the favour.

Feeling inspired to give something back and raise much-needed funds for a great cause? Get in touch with our Events Manager Charlotte, on charlotte.anderson-hughes@chsf.org.uk | 0113 831 4810 or download our events calendar here for inspiration and to see all the events you can get involved with this year.