Rhiannon Cullen

Archie Our Precious Heart Warrior Page

Fundraising for Wallace & Gromit's Grand Appeal
£3,870
raised of £4,000 target
by 73 supporters
In memory of Archie Daniel Scott Kinnear Cullen
We support Bristol Children's Hospital to save lives & support sick children

Story

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

Us as family to Archie want to raise money in his memory. ALL funds go straight to PICU ward in Bristol Royal Hospital for Children where Archie spent most of his life and to the charity The Grand Appeal which helped Myself, Rob (Archie’s Dad) and Kelly (Archie’s Nan) by providing us with accommodation to allow us to stay near Archie during his time in Bristol. All funds will go into Archie’s Star Tribute Fund in our boy’s memory, where it then gets shared between PICU and the Grand Appeal (Paul’s House)z 

A bit of Archie’s reason for being in hospital.

During pregnancy Archie was diagnosed with a possible of 3 Congential Heart Diseases, Truncus arteriosus, which is a rare type of heart disease in which a single blood vessel (truncus arteriosus) comes out of the right and left ventricles, instead of the normal 2 vessels (pulmonary artery and aorta). It is present at birth (congenital heart disease), and pulmonary atresia which is a form of heart disease in which the pulmonary valve does not form properly. It is present from birth (congenital heart disease). The pulmonary valve is an opening on the right side of the heart that regulates blood flow from the right ventricle (right side pumping chamber) to the lungs. As well as 2 very large VSDs (holes in the heart). His birth was planned for Bristol to be close to all the heart specialists to start him on a drug called Prostin to allow to keep the duct of the heart open until he was big and strong enough for surgery. When he was born he had further scans which found his condition was pulmonary atresia and he had many other complex bits that didn’t help. For his anatomy he needed open heart surgery but because his body wasn’t ready and his heart was so small they decided on other operations to get him stronger until he was ready. So on the 13th of May 2020 he underwent surgery which put stents in the duct of the heart to allow the blood to flow to his lungs, this was successful and with a very bumpy recovery we almost got home. The same day we learned that Archie had a genetic condition in where one arm of the chromosome 6p was duplicated. This could have meant so many things for Archie. He might have had learning difficulties, disabilities or behavioural problems. The condition is so rare this was something that not even the geneticists were aware of what could be Archie’s problems. But that never phased us and we was willing to take on problems that he could have had. Just before discharge home Archie had a routine echo scan of the heart to see how it was functioning but unfortunately they found that Archie had Aortic Valve Stenosis, where the main valve was narrowing, if not treated as soon as possible Archie would have passed as the blood would have stopped pumping to all the vital parts of his body. He got transferred back to Bristol to undergo another operation to balloon the Aortic Valve in attempt to prolong his life. On the 2nd of July 2020 he underwent the operation and unfortunately during this operation Archie went into cardiac arrest and remained asleep. The day I got told the news is something that will haunt me forever but I know that the staff done their very best to save my baby’s life and pushed so much to give him the best care.

 The staff in PICU were amazing and always went above and beyond for us and Archie. The care they gave him and other baby’s is next to none and I know without them my baby wouldn’t have made it to 3 months! Also the best general ward we ever went to was Pelican Ward in UHW, all the staff there were amazing too.. I feel one of the ‘lucky’ ones to have been able to have the moments I did with him and no matter how much time goes on I will never forget him or all what the staff done for us during his life. So this is just a little thank you to just show how grateful we are for all their care and support.

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About the charity

The Grand Appeal is the Bristol Children's Hospital Charity, transforming the lives of sick children from Bristol, the South West and beyond. Help save the lives of sick children, provide pioneering medical equipment and keep families together by donating or fundraising for The Grand Appeal.

Donation summary

Total raised
£3,869.69
+ £221.88 Gift Aid
Online donations
£1,554.19
Offline donations
£2,315.50

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