As you may or may not be aware, my daughter Summer has recently gone through 3 life saving operations at Glenfields Hospital in Leicester.
She had a rare tumour growing from her jugular vein in her neck, which had to be cut out. During the operation she had to be put on a heart and lung bypass machine while the surgeons used tissue from her heart to 'patch up' the jugular vein. The surgeons had to sacrifice nerves to her diaphragm, nerves to her right arm and tissue from her chest, they also had to break her collar bone to gain access to the tumour, all of which created other issues which lead to 2 more operations.
I’m sorry for putting such a graphic picture of Summer on this page but I wanted to show what she has been through.
She was in intensive care for 7 weeks, both in Glenfields and Leicester Royal Infirmary Hospital, she remained in hospital for a further 4 weeks. We live in Whittlesey near Peterborough, so both myself and Louise my wife stayed with her at the hospital for the duration of her stay.
During our stay in the hospital the Heart Link Charity provided us with accommodation and facilities that enabled us to get through these trying times.
They also support the hospital by providing equipment for the surgeons as well as a purpose built play centre for the recovering children. Without their help Summer might not of had the facilities she needed to get through her operations and I dread to think what would have happened if she didn’t have access to the facilities she needed.
Glenfields is one of 10 specialist paediatric hospital in the Country and is on the shortlist to be shut down by the Government.
To help raise money for Heart Link, who are doing their upmost to raise money to help keep the hospital open, I will be cycling from Lands End to John O'Groats next Easter. The route is approximately 1000 miles and I plan to do it, along with a few friends in 10 days.
We are hoping to raise £15,000 between us for Heartlink, helping them save more lives just like they did with Summer's.
Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.
So please dig deep and donate now.
Jody.
