Grant’s Jump for Joseph

CHSF supporter Grant Houldsworth is dad to heart hero Joseph, and is taking part in our 15,000ft Skydive to thank “all the people who played a part in saving my son’s life”.

When Joseph was a week old, the family  found out he had Coarctation of the Aorta and two Ventricular Septal Defects. He was urgently transferred to Leeds on Christmas Day 2018, and the family had real concerns they might lose him.

“His surgeon, Ms Carin Van Doorn, explained that she wanted Joseph to gain some weight before his heart surgery, but when he was 11 days old, she spoke to us again and said that they needed to operate the following day as he would probably not survive.

 

“As you can imagine, we were terrified. But all of the team were so supportive and tried to put our minds at rest. The wait for the phone call was horrendous. Miss Van Doorn called us after several hours to say that his surgery had gone well. We both just cried.

 

“We finally got to take Joseph home on the 2nd of January. We cannot thank the staff enough for everything they did for Joseph and ourselves. We will be forever grateful. Joseph is now a very healthy 6-year-old and is thriving in every way.

 

“Without the help we received from CHSF, things would have been much harder. We were given accommodation in the hospital for 2 days before being given a room at Eckersley House. We were also given food vouchers. This was a godsend as we would have had to stay in a hotel, which would have not only been expensive for us, but we wanted to be close to Joseph.”

Held at Hibaldstow Airfield, the Skydive is one of the highest tandem jumps available in the UK, offering an adrenaline-pumping freefall experience for over a full minute before the parachute opens. Grant said:

“If it wasn’t for Children’s Heart Surgery Fund, Joseph simply wouldn’t be with us today. When I saw the skydive as an option on the CHSF website it just felt right, as scary as it is… jumping from an aeroplane. It is the least I can do to help CHSF and say thank you to all the people who played a part in saving my son’s life.”

“I am lucky enough that in my line of work I get to work with lots of different companies. My approach to this was to simply email the contacts I have, the generosity of big companies can be overlooked and often forgotten but this has been a huge help when it comes to fundraising.

 

“One thing that has surprised me is the amount of people who have emailed back sharing their own stories of their children/family members having heart-related issues.

 

“The company I work for also have a company portal where I have posted my link.

“Social media is also a brilliant way to show what you are doing. My main tip is not to be shy when asking for donations and telling people what you are doing, what you are doing is important and you should feel very proud. So why not tell everybody!”