On the 8th December 2016, my friend's son, Ralph, was born with a congenital heart condition: Transposition of the Great Arteries. He was delivered at St Thomas’ hospital in London and was taken straight to ICU.  Ralph’s aorta and pulmonary artery were connected to the wrong side of his heart, with 20-30 babies in 100,000 being born with this every year. Whilst Evelina is part of the Guy’s and St Thomas’ group, it is one of only two specialist children’s hospitals in London helping around 900 babies a year. 

Ralph's parents knew before he was born that he would need open heart surgery and without urgent treatment he would have died.  At 12 days old he underwent the operation, spending the entire time since birth in neonatal intensive care at Evelina.

An 8 hour operation later and with an 8cm scar on his torso, Ralph returned to 1:1 care for the next 24 hours in the intensive care unit which was a tentative time, to say the least, requiring furthering life-saving surgery. On the 27th December, Ralph came home. His battle in hospital requiring a strength and resilience that has shone through to this day. 

Ralph’s parents are so incredibly grateful to Evelina Hospital and I am proud to be raising money for the continued life saving treatment and research at St Thomas’ and Evelina Children’s hospital. 

Today, Ralph’s smile and fun loving nature is infectious and his development is the same as any other lively 7 year old. This is all down to the staff at Evelina. From the lovely receptionists, cleaners and porters to the incredible nurses, doctors and surgeons. Ralph's parents are so incredibly appreciative of the amazing skill, support and care provided by the team(s) at Evelina. It is easy to take life for granted, but I hope you agree with me when I say that Ralph's story is a humbling and inspirational lesson not to do so.

The aim is to raise a minimum of £2,500 for Evelina Children’s Hospital London, not only as a small token of appreciation for all that they did for Ralph and his continued care, but to be able to provide for and support another baby and family’s journey.