Jessica was born with a hole in her heart and had open heart surgery when she was 8 years old.
During her time in hospital, gaming provided a huge relief, joy and distraction from her treatment and continues to play a big part in her life.
In 2021, Jessica decided to do a 24-hour gaming stream for CHSF and here’s how and why!
“The reason why I did this challenge was – as a child going in for an operation, it can be scary and frightening. However, the hospital put you at ease and try to make it not so scary.
“I remember them bringing round gaming consoles which I LOVED! I also have separation anxiety of being away from my mum and dad. These were the reasons why a gaming stream fitted so much for this fundraising challenge!
“I wanted to give back as I truly cannot thank the charity, hospital and all the doctors and nurses enough.
“For effectively giving me a life and being able to do things I wouldn’t have been able to if I didn’t have the surgery when I was 8 – or I possibly would not be here!
“I set myself the challenge of doing a 24-hour gaming stream. I ended up doing three 8-hour streams as I noticed that after 8 hours it ended, haha!
“There were three of us in my team! Myself, my brother James and his friend Lee – we all decided to do the 24-hour gaming stream for a charity that meant the most to us.
Jessica has open heart surgery when she was 8. “This is a picture of me with my friend that I met in hospital and still have contact with now! It’s nice to have met someone that understood what you went through with something similar!”
“We ended up playing Call of Duty for the full 24 hours, however we played different game modes. On one of those we managed to get another 27 friends involved in a big warzone of ‘last team standing wins’ which was great fun!
“I decided to do the fundraising through JustGiving as to be honest that seemed to be the easier platform to do it on. I always look at easier ways for the same outcome and JustGiving had a very user-friendly website.
“JustGiving asks you the questions, which charity you are doing it for etc and links into your Facebook so it basically sets it up for you!
“I believe you can do it with different accounts so if Facebook isn’t for everyone then you could sign up to JustGiving itself or through Twitch. If you are doing a gaming stream this might be ideal!
“JustGiving deal with everything from start to finish and then give the charity the money so no extra bits needed apart from sharing the link with people to donate.
“My tip would be for doing any kind of gaming stream is to keep communicating with people to stay awake and stay entertained! Making sure your support is great too really helps! I had done a Facebook Live and people kept popping on at different stages to keep me motivated and keeping me going!
“Raising the money that I did meant so much to me on a personal level as I know how far that money will go. I just want the children to feel as comfortable as possible whilst they are in hospital and make sure they have the machines/things they need most too. So, any help and anything that I can give back, I do!”
Feeling inspired to join Game4Hearts?
Simply follow the link below to sign up and find out all the ways you can fundraise for CHSF through gaming.
STEPtember
Walk 125km this STEPtember, and help give every poorly heart the strongest possible start!What is STEPtember? 1 in 125 babies are born with heart disease. Join us for STEPtember, a month-long challenge to walk 125km and raise £125 or more. Whether you're pacing the...
Board Game Night
A night for our young people to have fun, play games and make peer connections!When? Thursday 20th November 2025 Where? Community Space, Wellington Place [Google Maps] Time: 6pm - 9pm Who? CHD Patients (aged 12+) + bring a friend!Join the CHSF team for an exciting...
Paint & Sip
Sign up for our new event 'Paint & Sip' this October Half TermWhen? Monday 27th October 2025 Where? HEART: Headingley Enterprise & Arts Centre [Google Maps] Time: 5pm - 7pm Who? CHD Patients (aged 13+)Join the CHSF team for an exciting evening at our first...