The Cook Family: Coffee & Cake Afternoon

The Cook Family presenting their donation to CHSF

Children’s Heart Surgery Fund is a charity very close to this family’s hearts as Martha was born with a large hole in her heart and was rushed to Leeds General Infirmary at just 12 weeks old. Martha had her first open heart surgery a couple of days later, and the family got to see the amazing work the Leeds Congenital Heart Unit does.

Matt Cook said:

While we were in Leeds Hospital we experienced first hand the work the Children’s Heart Surgery Fund does in both the support for the families and the equipment they help fund on the ward. Earlier this year Martha had her second round of open heart surgery, and the amazing surgical team led by Miss Van Doorn managed to repair Martha’s heart. We now have a happy, healthy four year old with energy to burn. We decided to raise money for Children’s Heart Surgery Fund by organising a Coffee & Cake afternoon and held a prize raffle alongside other games and stalls. We contacted local companies for prize donations and were overwhelmed by the generosity that we received. Our sister-in-law Vicky works for Barclays Bank and they agreed to match whatever we raised on the day. Even though it was miserable, wet and rainy the day of the fundraiser the turnout was fantastic and the whole village and our friends came out to support us. We will never be able to repay the LGI for what they have done for our family and the future they have given Martha, but by supporting Children’s Heart Surgery Fund we hope that the hospital and other families will also benefit from this amazing charity’s hard work.

Laura Fletcher: Skydive

Laura said:

I chose to do a skydive and raise money for Children’s Heart Surgery Fund as our little Ava has had three lots of surgery at the LGI, her latest just this year in March. It was an amazing experience and we’re already thinking of our next challenge to raise money for this amazing charity!

B&M Waste: Charity Truck Pull

LEFT: CHSF Ellie giving out medals RIGHT: Truck pull in action

CHSF dedicated supporters B&M Waste Services continue to demonstrate their commitment to the communities they service with their latest initiative; the Annual Charity Truck Pull.

With teams of 8 made up of B&M staff from each depot, the challenge was to pull a famous B&M Waste REL truck – weighing a whopping 14.7 tonnes – 20m in distance.

Team Leeds took on the challenge for Children’s Heart Surgery Fund and came third with a time of 17.62 seconds.

CHSF Fundraising Manager, Ellie Brown said:

It was such a pleasure to be included in the B&M Waste Truck Pull.  Such a fun and different event – what a great idea! It was great to see the team get stuck in and I was impressed by how quickly the Leeds team managed to pull such a massive truck!!

Managing Director for B&M Waste, Neil Curtis, said:

The Charity Truck Pull is a fun and innovative way to raise money for all of the charities that B&M Waste supports. I’m really proud of all the teams for getting involved – it’s no easy feat!

Andrea Kitchen: Vintage Tractor Run

Andrea said:

After being transferred to the LGI from Hull, my 15 year old daughter ended up having emergency open heart surgery and saving her life. We then spent 6 weeks in hospital on ward 51 over her birthday, Christmas and new year.

We had a party earlier in the year to raise money for CHSF but it just didn’t seem enough so we decided to do a 28 mile tractor run! It was so much fun – can’t wait for the next one in spring now.

Thank you to all of this week’s fundraisers – as a wholly self-funded charity we truly couldn’t do what we do without your support. #BecauseofYou

Icelolly.com: Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge

Earlier this month (October 6), 27 of the icelolly.com team went the extra mile (23 to be exact) and challenged themselves to walk the gruelling Yorkshire Three Peaks in less than 12 hours to raise money for the Children’s Heart Surgery Fund.

Thanks to their resilience, they were able to secure

for CHSF, smashing their initial goal of £2,500.

Compliance and Customer Experience Manager, Sharon Addy said:

We have supported Children’s Heart Surgery Fund for many years, but the team went the extra mile this October to raise money for this amazing charity. CHSF offers invaluable assistance to children who are undergoing major surgery, and the support they provide to them and their families is hugely valuable and appreciated. We are genuinely proud to support such a worthy cause.

Thanks so much icelolly.com – we are so grateful for your continued support!

The Rogers Family: A big birthday party

Jack Rogers said:

Children’s Heart Surgery Fund was such a support when my grandson Oliver was in hospital that I wanted to help raise funds for them as a thank you. My 80th birthday party was the ideal opportunity for this and my guests were incredibly generous, we all had a fantastic time. Thank you CHSF.

Excel Childcare: Summer Fayre

Lisa (CHSF Community Fundraiser) & Katie Bear visited Excel Childcare to receive a cheque for their kind donation.

Nursery Manager, Laura said:

A child joined us who had a problem with her heart, and it was through Molly we learnt about the brilliant work of Children’s Heart Surgery Fund. We wanted to get on board and fundraise. We now have a few children who have had heart surgery and would like to thank CHSF for their support.

Mercedes-Benz Trucks Ltd, Barnsley: Cake & Jewellery Sale

Ruth Sylvester said:

On 26th September we held a bake and jewellery sale at our Used Commercial Vehicle site Mercedes-Benz Trucks UK Ltd in Barnsley with the funds raised to be donated to Children’s Heart Surgery fund in memory of my brave and beautiful nephew Lucas Tewson. I want to say a massive thank you to all my friends and colleagues who helped, contributed and donated to raise £1300 for the fund, including the £250 donated by Mercedes-Benz Trucks.

I would like to thank everyone at CHSF for the amazing work they do and hope this donation will help them to give the same support to other families that my brother and his wife received through very difficult times. Also a thank you to everyone at Leeds Congenital Heart Unit who cared for Lucas, the work and devotion to their patients as a team is beyond words. Lastly to Lucas who’s bravery and fight allowed us all to have our precious memories of him. God Bless.

Friend & Family of Olivia Hirst: A bit of everything!

Olivia’s Mum, Lucy said:

We raised money for CHSF by doing bag packs in local supermarkets,raffles, market stalls and getting support from our friends and family. We can’t thank CHSF enough for everything, and will continue to be forever grateful – it’s an amazing charity.

This month we celebrate the amazing efforts of Steph Matu and Karen Jackson who conquered the Great North Run at the beginning of September, raising a huge amount of money for CHSF in the process! The pair were inspired to run after witnessing the care their niece/grandaughter Sophia received when visiting the Leeds Congential Heart Unit.

Steph and Karen before their run

Sophia Vivienne Matu was born on 26th December 2017 at Leeds General Infirmary (LGI). A few hours after birth she was diagnosed with an extremely rare congenital heart disease called Total anomalous pulmonary venous drainage (TAPVD), meaning the blood didn’t flow properly from her lungs to her heart.

At just one day old, Sophia underwent emergency open heart bypass surgery to correct the TAPVD. Over the following three months Sophia endured two further open heart surgeries, and one diaphragm surgery at the LGI.

Sophia is still under cardiac follow up at LGI, and had a cardiac catheter procedure in September.

Children’s Heart Surgery Fund has helped our family no end throughout this traumatic ordeal. We noticed CHSF stickers on a variety of cutting edge equipment used in Sophia’s care. We enjoyed the family rooms with televisions, tea, coffee etc. Even small things like the fish tank on the ward make a huge difference; once we could take Sophia out of her bed we loved taking her to see the fish!

Proud fundraisers at CHSF HQ

Steph (Sophia’s Aunty) and Karen (Sophia’s grandmother) completed the Great North Run on 9th September 2018 raising a total of £5,330 for CHSF.

They started their fundraising by setting up a Just Giving page. This was mentioned to family, friends, sports clubs and their employers.

We were amazed by everyone’s generosity including a large donation of £2,250 from SIMA/ Unite the Union.

Stephanie also did bake sales and painted pictures for friends.

Ready for a challenge!                                     Steph crosses the finish line

We asked Steph and Karen if there is any advice they would give to other people thinking about fundraising for CHSF…

Just remember the reason you’re doing the fundraising; the smiles on these babies faces. Fundraising for CHSF not only saves the lives of these children, but makes the process of it all substantially easier for parents at such a stressful time.

Just a massive thank you for all the hard work you do. From the specialist equipment in PICU, to the Easter eggs on Easter Sunday – we hugely appreciate it! We chose to fundraise for CHSF due to the superb care they have provided, and still provide, to Sophia and her family. Now 10 months old, Sophia is an absolute delight to have around, extremely smiley and happy – and hopefully in a few months she will be able to say ‘thank you’ herself, as she experiments with her voice!

And THANK YOU Steph and Karen for your amazing efforts – your donation will make a massive difference to the lives of babies and children with congenital heart disease in our region.

Sunbeams Day Nursery: Summer fayre

Katie Bear visits the nursery

Anna Smith Nursery Manager said:

“Children’s Heart Surgery Fund is a charity close to our hearts so we wanted to do anything we could to support them. We held a summer fayre here at nursery which was a fabulous event. Local businesses were extremely generous in donating amazing prizes for our raffle and our local police force were kind enough to come along with a van and bikes for the children to see. We would like to thank all of our parents for their support in helping us raise this money for a very worthy cause.”

Bev Murphy & Karen Nixon: Yorkshire Three Peaks

They did it!

Bev said:

“We decided to do the Three Peaks Walk as we both had milestone birthdays this year and decided we needed a challenge. Our friends wanted to sponsor us and we decided to raise money for Children’s Heart Surgery Fund. This charity means so much to Adam and Carly Broadbent through all the help and support they had received with their daughter Ayla. It was wet, windy and a long way, but worth it!

Thank you to everyone who raised a penny or a pound this week for Children’s Heart Surgery Fund. It is #BecauseofYou that we can continue supporting hearts for life.

Jamie Roberts & Sammy Bradley: In memory

Jamie and Sammy with Lisa at CHSF HQ

Sammy & Jamie said:

We recently lost our Mum Karen Roberts & decided as a family to organise a collection in her memory. Our friends and family wanted to donate to CHSF because the family received amazing support when Karen’s Granddaughter Gracie had open heart surgery in 2014. Many thanks to the Leeds Congenital Heart Unit for caring for Gracie at that time.

Thank you to Sammy, Jamie and the whole family for such wonderful generosity shown to Children’s Heart Surgery Fund. We are so very grateful – with your gift we can continue supporting hearts for life. #BecauseofYou

The Skelly Family: Barton Carnival

Andy Skelly said:

We raised money for Children’s Heart Surgery Fund because my niece (Imogen) was Diagnosed with ventricular septal defect in October 2011 aged 1. She got endocarditis in February 2013. She was in Leeds for treatment for 7 weeks and had open heart surgery in May 2013, aged 2.

Imogen with CHSF Community Fundraiser, Lisa

We can’t thank you enough, for everything you did for her. Not only the treatment, but also the great aftercare. we wanted to try and help other children by raising money. Hopefully this is just the start and more fundraising will be happening in the future.

Adam Wilberforce: The Yorkshire Wolds Way

Adam & Chris took on the challenge of The Yorkshire Wolds Way, a National Trail in Yorkshire. It runs 79 miles from Hessle to Filey, around the Yorkshire Wolds.

Adam said

We wanted to show appreciation and give back to the charity for saving my daughter Nancie Matilda’s life. It was hard to be away from our families but made for emotional and meaningful memories to remember.

Chris added

I would say it’s one of the best experiences of my life, even better knowing that it was for a fantastic charity that helps and supports families when they need it most!

Scalm Park Leisure: Charity Day

Rachel Jones tells us about the day and how they came to support Children’s Heart Surgery Fund…

My Dad had a heart transplant 14 years ago and we have held a charity day around the anniversary date of his surgery each year. Four years ago the lady who had organised our annual fishing competition told us about how wonderfully her granddaughter had been cared for at the Leeds Congenital Heart Unit and asked if we could put some of the money we raised through the competition to Children’s Heart Surgery Fund. Scalm Park Fishing Competition We decided that CHSF was really good fit for the ethos of our fundraising and have donated a part of our totals raised ever since. Our fundraising events involve a golf competition, fishing competition, raffles, games, auctions and stalls. Every penny paid in entry fees goes to our chosen charities … and my Dad pays all the bills! Katie teeing off Katie fishing for her supper! Charity Raffle and Silent Auction We are so grateful to have had the extra time with Dad – he now has 5 grandchildren who would never have met him without the amazing work these charities do!

Thank you Scalm Park – it looks like you all had a fantastic day and all for a worthy cause!

Emma’s son Freddie was diagnosed with

at 2 ½ years old, undergoing two open-heart surgeries before his 4

birthday. For the first 5 years of this life he spent a lot of time in hospital, having lots of different procedures and tests.

The McDonald Family

Children’s Heart Surgery Fund supported Freddie and his family through both of his surgeries. Freddie’s mum and dad were able to stay in CHSF’s family accommodation whilst he was in intensive care – with many pieces of equipment need to treat Freddie on the NICU also being funded by the charity.

With CHSF being there every step of the way Emma, Freddie’s mum, decided she wanted to give something back.

LEFT: Emma, Freddie and guests at her most recent charity ball   RIGHT: The McDonalds on the red carpet

Emma has organised not one, but two incredibly successful charity balls, which have raised over £25,000 for Children’s Heart Surgery Fund! A staggering feat that we are so very grateful for.

And it doesn’t stop there! Emma’s family are keen to get involved too, with Emma’s sister arranging for 21 children to take part in the gruelling 2K obstacle course, Junior Warrior this year – raising another £2000 for CHSF.

Junior Warrior: before and after!

We asked Emma if she had any advice for future fundraisers…

Be passionate and be bold when you are fundraising – and never feel bad for asking people for support! You know the worth of the charity and you need everyone else to understand what it means to you. Always be grateful for any amount you receive.

Children’s Heart Surgery Fund is a wonderful charity that do their best to support children and families emotionally while also support the ward by funding new equipment, training and now a bigger bespoke surgery. I am very happy we have been able to contribute to this knowing Freddie is likely to need operations in the future.

Emma McDonald

What an inspiration! Thank you, Emma, for all your amazing hard work to raise funds and profile for CHSF. It is #BecauseOfYou that we are able to continue supporting hearts for life.

It’s here again – #FundraisingFriday – meet this week’s fundraisers going that extra mile for Children’s Heart Surgery Fund

Beaverbrooks, Leeds – in memory of Lucas Tewson

Simon & Sam Tewson said:

The wonderful staff at Beaverbrooks in Leeds came to know of our precious son Lucas and his complex type of congenital heart disease (known as Shone’s Syndrome) when we visited the shop to buy rings for our short notice wedding. They were touched by his courage, bravery and strength. We promised to bring Lucas to the shop to meet them but unfortunately our beautiful baby boy passed away on 18th July and we were unable to fulfil that promise. On hearing the sad news, the Beaverbrooks staff took the decision to award Children’s Heart Surgery Fund their charity donation for the year in memory of Lucas.

The cheque for a staggering £1200 was presented in the store on 19th September.

Thank you Lucas for the impact you have made and thank you Beaverbrooks for your kind and thoughtful generosity.

Family of Jared Durrani-Gill

Roxanna, Jared’s Mum said:

Jared was supported through his life changing surgery by The Children’s Heart Surgery Fund.  We wanted as a family to give a little back in appreciation of the help we received to help other families going through a similar experience.

Thank you to this weeks fundraisers and thank you to all of you who keeping flying the flag and raising much-needed funds for CHSF.

Claire O’Neil & Millie Dean: Skydive

Millie and Claire, ready to jump!

Claire and Millie braved the jump and took part in a sponsored Skydive in support of Children’s Heart Surgery Fund.

The girls said:

We work for Wakefield Audi and CHSF is our chosen charity for the dealership. The charity is close to both of us as we know people that have needed the help from the charity in the past. We just wanted to raise as much as possible as we know someone will benefit from the great work that the charity provides.

Thanks ladies!

The Royal, Morley: Fancy Dress

Doreen and team outside The Royal, Morley

Doreen and her team at

pub in Morley organised a Back to School fancy dress charity night.  Thank you to all the staff and customers from The Royal for your fantastic support of Children’s Heart Surgery Fund!

Karen Jackson & Steph Matu: Great North Run

Karen, Steph and family paid a visit to Oxford Place

My Mum and I decided to enter the Great North Run in January to fund raise for CHSF when my niece was diagnosed with a complex heart condition. We are absolutely thrilled to have raised over £5000 to help keep CHSF funding vital research, medical equipment and support for families. Thanks to every person that sponsored us – kids like my niece get a better chance at life, and that’s a pretty wonderful thing!

GMB: Cycle Ride

CHSF’s Lisa and Ellie with Stacey, GMB

Stacey Booth from

said:

GMB were very proud to get involved in the charity cycle ride raising money for continued research and equipment to help children and their families affected by heart conditions. We spend our daily lives helping people in work, it was nice to spend the day on the other side with patients and families. We had lots of fun!

Emma Brook & Rebecca Auty

Emma and Rebecca meet Lisa at CHSF HQ

Emma & Rebecca organised a Skydive and an amazing Fun day at Wilton Park in Batley.

Emma said:

The heart unit at the LGI have been there to support us all through my son, Alfie’s, surgeries and 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.

A huge thank you to Emma and Rebecca for their continued support.