The reason y we are raising money for the Evelina Children’s Hospital London

I’m taking this opportunity to raise money for frontline cardiology at the Evelina as i have placed my little girl in the hands of world class surgeons, consultants and they have provided her with the best care and expertise they can! 

Just 30 years ago, the series of surgeries which Bella will have/had were just not around, and if it weren’t for these operations, she would of not have survived and be here today! 

Our Story 

We found out at the very first scan (12weeks) at Southend Hospital that there was something different with our daughter’s heart they couldn’t tell us exactly what was different but was told something wasn’t right. Amazing that they found this as was told baby’s heart was similar size to a rice grain and normally wouldn’t find until around 20 week scan! So we got referred straight to Evelina Children’s Hospital/St Thomas Hospital London as they are a specialist hospital where as Southend was just our local hospital. Where after lots of scans here as Mummy was in early stages of pregnancy they confirmed my diagnosis.

Congenital heart defect (CHD) which is a heart problem which is present at birth. It is caused by abnormal formation of the heart during fetal development. In most cases, when a baby is born with congenital heart disease, there is no known reason for it.

Thankfully the hole in her heart was a good thing as this meant the blood could get to the all right places and that’s y she survived in my womb. It was very unknown time and didn’t how how she would be when born and could need to be rushed off for surgery as soon as she was born and didn’t know how her quality of life would be. They also give us the information that I could terminate pregnancy later than the normal amount of weeks as her heart condition but I know deep down I wanted to give her a chance at life. They also give us a option to have a test to see if for sure if she had Down syndrome which I did have and it come back that she didn’t but even if she did I would of continued with pregnancy either way. They told us children with both conditions their quality of life can be not so great. It was a very worrying time but kept as positive as could and know we was in the right place if anything needed to be done.

Now..

Bella is 4 and looking at her you wouldn’t be able to tell she has this condition. Her condition is hidden most of the time. It’s only when she is active she might get a little worn out before other children or she would be the first child to get cold and would have to make sure she gets warm but her scar under her top from open heart surgery is very real and reminds us how strong and far she has come. It hasn’t been a easy journey and right now life is good but it will get hard again at some point when she will need her next 2 open heart surgeries but I’m sure she will show us how strong she is again. 

The Cardiology Kids

The Cardiology Kids was created by a collaboration between Caroline May (Mum to Arthur, a myocarditis survivor), Dr Aaron Bell (Head of Service for Paediatric Cardiology) and the Evelina Fundraising Team. It's goal is to bring together 150 Cardiology families to raise £150,000 for the Cardiology Team as a legacy of the 150th birthday of the Evelina London Children's Hospital. £150,000 is a massive target: with 150 families on board, we can achieve it easily! The money raised by The Cardiology Kids goes straight into the 'Children's Heart Fund' at the Evelina and it is ring-fenced specifically for Cardiology care priority needs under the direction of Dr Bell. Basically, it hits the NHS front line where it makes a difference and helps fund the medical equipment for children with poorly hearts just like Bella. This opportunity is to give a little something back to the team who we are so thankful to for saving Bella and giving her the best possible quality of life! Anything you can manage to give will help us raise will be such a big help! Which will go directly to the frontline of cardiac care, where we have personally received the benefits! 

Thank you for taking time to read and to help us raise some funds to help her hospital carry on helping us and all the other heart warriors! 

Share CHD Awareness! 

Bella and Mum Emma xx