Darren Dunn: Braved the SHAVE!

Darren Dunn braved the shave in support of CHSF – Lee Aslin, father of Reggie said

Darren had just randomly been growing his ‘tash’ for a while and was ready to shave it off. Darren knows my son Reggie and knows what CHSF as charity not only does for Reggie, but hundreds of other children too. Darren came up with the idea that he would like to shave not only his moustache but is head too and in doing so raise as much money for CHSF as possible!

Fantastic Darren – thank you so much! Better buy a hat though. It’s a bit nippy out there!

Winter Bullen: JustGiving

Winter’s mum, Amber said:

The reason we decided to support was because we were so overwhelmed by the help we had been given over the years, and more than anything at the time of Winter’s latest hospital stay. We wanted to do something to give back so the next child who used her bed on Ward 51 could benefit in the same way. It was super easy to fundraise and completely spontaneous. We simply created a JustGiving page in 5 minutes and as Dr Hares did his rounds, he kindly agreed to pose with Winter. Winter and Dr Dom We then sent the link around to family and friends. We had only hoped to raise £100 to get some toys or entertainment for other children but managed £1180! Thank you CHSF for everything you have done!

Winter adding her name to the CHSF donation tree!

Amazing fundraising, Winter! Thank you so very much! #BecauseofYou

Since it was formed in 1970, The Leeds District Association of The Camping and Caravanning Club has always raised money for charity and the supported charity is chosen annually by the current Chairman.

The clubs main goal is to arrange fun camping and caravanning events for all the family but with a strong emphasis on Children.

The Club showing their full support for CHSF

So when Chris Hallsworth was elected chair, he decided that a Leeds based charity which looked after the needs of all the family but with a strong emphasis on children was entirely in keeping with the club ethos.

Chris said:

The work that Children’s Heart Surgery Fund undertake showed them to be an incredibly worthy charity. The decision was then ‘rubber-stamped’ by the fact that we had 3 heart warriors camping with us regularly. The charity have helped all three of our families, both directly with things like accommodation and support, but also generally with things like the fish tank on the ward and who could forget Katie Bear!

The club have organised several events throughout the year ranging from raffles and cake sales to Swimathon’s and Sober for October.

The largest event was the club’s Yorkshire Three Peaks walk in May. The team was made up of a wide range people between 12 to 70 years of age, with all shapes and sizes represented.

Leeds DA taking on the Peaks

Over a period of 8 months the team walked either one, two or all three of the peaks 15 times before the big day.

One training walk saw winds of 80+ mph with temperatures of -16c. Despite the testing conditions however, the team never took a backward step.

Time for a photo at the top!

We asked the Club if there was any advice they would give to other fundraisers…

Make it fun and if you can organise something which both challenges you and galvanises a team spirit then you’ll get so much more out of it. As an organisation we have been delighted to support Children’s Heart Surgery Fund and we would like to wish every heart warrior and their family a fantastic 2019.

The Club raised over £6000 for CHSF

Addison & Betsy: Santa Fun Run

Betsy, 10, and Addison, 13, ready to run

Addison, 13, and Betsy, 10, took part in a Santa Fun Run and raised money for Children’s Heart Surgery Fund.

They chose CHSF as their sister, Alana, was born with a hole in her heart which was closed at 4 years old. CHSF supported both Alana and her family during her time in hospital.

Our fundraisers said:

#becauseofyou for Alana x Alana had an ASD closure at 4 years old and this was very successful. She is now 18, is studying at University and is an active Fell Runner in her spare time.

Addison and Betsy going for gold!

Friends & Family of Isabel Sanders: Charity Dinners

took part in the Yorkshire Marathon on behalf of CHSF and said:

Children’s Heart Surgery Fund has done so much for Isabelle, the family, and so many others. I just wanted to raise some money to show a little gratitude. The charity helps out in so many ways, and, its run by people who really do care.

has now organised two Charity Dinners with the support of her family and friends.

Jessica said

My family and friends and I started raising money for Children’s Heart Surgery Fund last year when my Niece was diagnosed with congenital heart disease. We have held two Charity Dinners attended by friends and family. Isabelle had open heart surgery at Leeds when she was 6 days old and will continue to need life-long support from them. What the charity and the people behind it do is incredible as well as the nurses, consultants and surgeons who are caring for our loved ones daily. Their work is amazing, and without them we wouldn’t be where we are today. Thank you so much to Children’s Heart Surgery Fund for all their hard work, especially all the support they give us during our fundraising events. We will continue to help raise money each year for this amazing charity. Thank you for everyone’s donations. It really does mean a lot to me and my family.

Riggotts: Corporate donation

Jon Ellis from Riggotts, Newark said:

An email was sent from the directors asking if we had any suggestions for this years charity donation. As our family situation with my granddaughter Reavie has been close to my heart this year I was quick to respond to see if it was possible for the company to donate to CHSF. Having been many times this year to the hospital and experienced the care and dedication from all the staff involved with Reavie’s care it is a very worth while fund to support.

Joleen, Friends & Family: Big Present Drop-Off

Joleen said:

My baby boy Flynn was born last December with Co-arctation of an Aorta which, after being admitted to Leeds Children’s Hospital, we found out required surgery. He had his surgery at 11 days old. We spent the first few weeks of his life in PICU and then on Ward L51. We were lucky to be discharged just a few days before Christmas and because of this I wanted to take part in the Christmas Present Collection. Flynn is now doing great, whilst still being regularly monitored! The contribution of presents has come from my friends, family, my partner’s colleagues at Ohmega Electrical and my colleagues at work; William Lamb.

Philippa Barraclough: Big Present Drop-Off

Phillipa told us about what inspired her to give:

I was born with 2 holes in my heart and an interrupted aortic arch. At a week old I had open heart surgery, thanks to Dr Waterson and Dr Dickinson I am here today despite my difficult start in life. I wanted to do a toy collection amongst our team at Trinity Leeds. Thanks to some amazing donations we have been able to bring a little joy to someone’s Christmas. Children shouldn’t have to spend time in hospital, but if we can make them feel special and put a smile on their face for just a moment I think we should. We had two very lovely donations, one of which came from Nidah and her family, for which I cannot express how thankful I am. I have some wonderful friends who have helped me to make this donation possible. Also, thank you to Rachel for helping me get the donations up to the hospital.

Interactive Investor: Big Present Drop-Off

The staff at

are amazing supporters of CHSF and as well as taking part in our Christmas Jumper Day this year they also donated Christmas presents for the children in hospital over the festive period.

Excel Childcare: Christmas Fayre

We would like to say a huge thank you to Excel Childcare for their continued support.

They held their Christmas Fayre last weekend and raised a further £320! Well done guys!

Cutting Edge: Bucket Collection

University of Leeds student society, Cutting Edge spent a day in Leeds City Centre spreading the message of CHSF to all the Christmas shoppers.

The President of their society said:

We were able to remind the people of Leeds to think of all the children that may be facing the scary prospect of surgery during this otherwise festive time of year, and the hardworking staff on the surgical care teams looking after them. As medical students from the Surgery Society of the University of Leeds, it was extremely important for us to challenge the misconception of surgeons as intimidating and mean – we don’t break hearts, we mend them!

UKIM Youth Leeds: Fundraising Challenge

Usamah Ahmed said:

In our youth club we were joined by one of our elders who spoke about the importance of charity – particularly helping those who are less fortunate to us in terms of health and well-being. From this, we were set up on a challenge whereby the youth club was split into two teams with the aim of each team to raise money for two local charities: Martin House Children’s Hospice and of course Children Heart Surgery Fund. Each team was given £100 and expected to change this into a bigger sum of money and from the fundraising techniques used, both teams were able to raise a fantastic amount!

For our Christmas Party, we were in need of 180 selection boxes to give to children and their families who are to attend our annual celebration.

Premdor, based in Barnsley set up a ‘Selection Box Donation Point’ at their offices and encouraged staff to make a festive donation.

Selection boxes safely tucked in the CHSF van!

CHSF staff paid a visit to Premdor HQ earlier this week to pick up the boxes and say a massive thank you in person!

We had an overwhelming response to our Facebook post asking for Selection Box donations – we now have more than enough chocolate to go around!

There are other ways you can help out this Christmas – see how you could donate your time or talents at

In January 2016, our daughter Matilda was born with total anomalous pulmonary venous return (TAPVR). This condition means the veins from her lungs were not attached to her heart.

At 4 days old, and having already spent the initial days of her life in York Special Baby Care Unit, Matilda was rushed to Leeds for emergency heart surgery at the Leeds Congenital Heart Unit.

“The operation was a roaring success and Matilda will celebrate her 3rd birthday in January. To meet her now, you would never know that she had such a tough and challenging start to life; she is our little warrior!”

Sean’s inspiration, Matilda

Sean continued:

From the minute we arrived at the LGI, Children’s Heart Surgery Fund were there to support us. We were immediately offered accommodation in the Brotherton Wing so that we could stay close to Matilda during her operation and throughout her recovery. Being provided the accommodation was invaluable to us, especially for the days Matilda spent in intensive care following her operation. Over the days that followed, a number of CHSF staff came to visit us on the ward, providing us with moral support and someone knowledgeable to talk to. I couldn’t speak more highly of the staff at the LGI and to CHSF for the care they gave to our daughter, and for looking after us as a family at such a traumatic time.

Sean at the top!

Over the last three years, Sean has raised in excess of £5,000 for CHSF by taking part in the York 10k, York 10 mile and the Great North Run – often in fancy dress!

CHSF will always be a charity that remains hugely important to me and my family. Each year, I try to challenge myself a bit more than the previous year, and in June I successfully completed the Jurassic Coast 100k from Weymouth to Exmouth in 24hrs. I have entered this event again in 2019 and am also looking for the next big challenge!

We asked Sean if he had any advice for future fundraisers…

When you feel like giving up…think about why you started! When all of our attention needed to be focussed on Matilda, CHSF looked after everything else that allowed us to do this – thank you!

Evie Pugh: Bracelet making

Evie at CHSF HQ and one of her fantastic bracelets modelled by Katie Bear

Evie’s mum, Liz said:

The background to Evie’s wish to do something was that she had a Hobbycraft voucher and wanted to make bracelets to sell to raise money for Children’s Heart Surgery Fund, and to help buy toys for the ward. She made 91 bracelets in total and sold them at school with her best friend. They were very popular and sold out in 10 minutes! She’s already planning her next sale!

Absolutely fantastic, Evie! Keep up the amazing work!

Susan Pollard & Amy Waite: Santa and his helpers!

Susan said:

My daughter Amy had a heart transplant two years ago, and both Amy and myself have a passion to help others who are suffering with heart conditions. We thought doing our fundraiser for Children’s Heart Surgery Fund would be ideal, as CHSF is totally reliant on donations and we wanted to help the children and their families in whatever way we could. We came up with the idea of having Santa and his helpers in our back garden! Our friends paid to see Santa, we had a lucky dip and one person even needed their clothes washing and donated £5 to have them washed!! The day was a huge success as we thought we would raise around £30 or £40 – but alas it ended up being £500!

Fantastic efforts ladies. Truly embracing festive fundraising just in time for the Christmas season!

The McDonald Family: Louis & Freddie’s Celebration Ball

Emma McDonald said:

We wanted to fundraise for CHSF following our son Freddie’s open heart surgery and the amazing support we received from the charity. The work Children’s Heart Surgery Fund does is incredible. We have raised over £30,000 for them so far with two charity balls and this has made a significant contribution towards the new hybrid theatre, opening next year.

The McDonald’s have yet again raised an unbelievable amount for our charity and we couldn’t be more grateful for their unending support!

Joe Nicolson: Stoptober

Joe Nicolson gave up smoking for October to raise money for CHSF. Joe’s inspiration for taking part in Stoptober was his daughter, Elle who has a congenital heart disease that affects 1 in 100 babies.

Elle has battled through and has had a lot of heart surgeries and now she is doing fantastic as she had her full open heart surgery not too long ago. It has been a roller coaster of emotions but Leeds Children’s Hospital and CHSF have given Elle the chance to live her life. I will never be able to give enough to this charity or to the surgeons and nurses who saved my daughters life on multiple occasions. Thank you so much!

Danielle & Ruby: Facebook Fundraiser

Danielle set up a Facebook fundraiser recently after her daughter Ruby had her second open heart surgery.

Ruby has been in hospital for 12 weeks now and Danielle said:

We supported CHSF because the support they give to families on PICU and ward 51 is amazing. They will always be our chosen charity as they were our life line while we were on the ward!

Deb & Steve Sixsmith: Tractor Pulling

Deb and Steve Sixsmith are part of the North Yorkshire Tractor Pulling Team and they raised money for CHSF because their daughter Phoebe had open heart surgery on the 11th April this year to close three holes in her heart.

They said:

The surgery saved our Phoebe’s life and we wanted to give something back.

Not only did the couple raise over £3000 but they also donated a mountain of selection boxes for our Christmas Party. Thanks guys!

Wetherby Runners: Charity of the Year

ABOVE: Running the Yorkshire Marathon BELOW: CHSF Georgie accepting an amazing donation

Wetherby Runners is a club that prides itself on being a welcoming and friendly running club and also fund raises each year for a local charity proposed by one of its members.

CHSF was chosen for 2018 having been nominated by Debra Wheeler who is the Network Manager for the Yorkshire and Humber Congenital Heart Disease Network and an active member of Wetherby Runners AC.

Debra also has a personal reason for supporting CHSF as her grandson, Sebastian, was born in August 2017 with congenital heart disease and had surgery in Leeds when he was just 6 days old.

On Wednesday 14th November, at the club’s AGM, a cheque for an amazing £2,741 was presented to CHSF.

This was as the result of a number of social events held during the year and proceeds from the very successful Wetherby 10k which is held every year at the beginning of September and attracts over 1000 runners. In addition to this 6 runners from the club took part in the Yorkshire Marathon in October (pictured above), appropriately dressed as Vikings with the CHSF logo on their shields, and through JustGiving raised a further £2,500 for charity!

Bex Rodgers, Heidi Pattison & Anna Hunter: Glitz & Glamour

The ladies said:

We had such a fantastic night at the Glitz & Glamour evening in aid of Children’s Heart Surgery Fund – it was a great success for our first attempt at this kind of fundraiser. Everyone that came along had such a great evening. We managed to raise more money than we expected, especially with only having six weeks to organise it! After the success of our first Glitz & Glamour evening, we cannot wait to organise another one in the Summer – bigger and better! The three of us all have little girls who have been on the receiving end of so much help from Children’s Heart Surgery Fund, from accommodation to toys on the ward. We really enjoy fundraising as it is a way of saying a massive thank you for all the support that we have received, and will continue for have, from Children’s Heart Surgery Fund throughout all three of our daughter’s heart journeys.

Simon Gelder: Brave the Shave

Simon BEFORE and AFTER

‘Bravo!’ to Simon who Braved the Shave and clippered away his hair to raise money for CHSF!

My motivation for raising the money is one of my best mates has a daughter named Payton. She was born prematurely and has been in hospital since she was born. Children’s Heart Surgery Fund has been one of the many caring for Payton and to raise money for such a charity means a lot me and the amazing people involved with Payton and her care. She has been a little fighter since the day she was born and I want the charity to continue to help as many children as possible. I would like to thank all the medical staff and everyone who donated to this amazing cause – we are truly grateful.

Lisa Williams: CHSF Community Fundraiser

And last but certainly not least…

On the other side of the cheque presentation this week, CHSF’s very own Community Fundraiser Lisa Williams has been running non-stop to do her bit for Children’s Heart Surgery Fund!

Lisa said:

I wanted to support CHSF because I meet so many inspirational families going through their CHD journey and I see first-hand what an amazing difference our charity makes to these families.

Lisa completed the Leeds 10k and the Leeds Abbey Dash in aid of CHSF this year. She also completed the London Marathon in aid of Global Make Some Noise as they supported CHSF with a large donation, taking Lisa’s donation to over £3,000 for charity this year!

Lisa meets lots of our amazing fundraisers within her role and appreciates the time and effort supporters invest in the charity.

She can’t wait for 2019 and more challenges to come!

Thank you, Lisa!