Cardiomyopathy and Mitochondrial Disease and spending almost four months in the intensive care units at Bristol
Royal Children’s Hospital and Great Ormond Street Hospital. Although Elliot underwent four successful open
heart operations he survived a fifth only to pass away hours later.              

In June 2015 Elliot’s parents, Donna and Paul created 'Elliot's Touch' in his name to raise awareness of

Mitochondrial Disease and Cardiomyopathy and to support organisations which are researching and finding
preventions and cures for both. Donna and Paul say “Elliot was our hero, our inspiration; he could always light up
a room with his gorgeous smile and big blue eyes. We were so proud of him and his determination to live. We
want to do him proud and keep his memory alive”.

In nearly every cell in the body, mitochondria are responsible for producing energy that the cell needs to function.

When a person has Mitochondrial Disease the mitochondria in the cells are not producing enough energy for the
cell. They either aren’t working properly or just don’t work at all. If a lot of mitochondria in the important body
organs, like the brain or heart are affected Mitochondrial Disease can be very serious. At present, there is no cure
for Mitochondrial Disease, treatment is to relieve its symptoms.

Cardiomyopathy is a disease of the heart muscle. It is a chronic and sometimes progressive disease in which the
heart muscle becomes abnormally enlarged, thickened and/or stiffened such that the heart can no longer
contract or relax normally.           

In July 2017, in recognition of their tireless and courageous fundraising, Donna and Paul were proud to receive a
Heart Hero’s inspiration award from The British Heart Foundation for “ Involving and inspiring others to fight for
every heartbeat”.

In early 2018 Donna and Paul were shocked and honoured to learn they had been nominated to attend the
wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, by the Lord Lieutenant of Somerset, Anne Maw, in recognition of
their outstanding work for their Elliot’s Touch charity.

So on the 19th of May 2018, having been give treasured “gold tickets” to Windsor Castle, Donna and Paul found

themselves in a special enclosure with 1,200 others who had shown similar strong leadership and outstanding
community service, only feet away from the Royals and A-list celebrities arriving at the Chapel Royal.

On their return home after a hectic lead up to the wedding, which also included several television and radio

interviews, both admitted to being in a state of mild shock and having to pinch themselves to be sure it had really
happened.

Admitting to being somewhat starstruck by the celebrities with whom they had shared the day they were also
pleased to have met some lovely people all of whom wanted to know about Elliot’s Touch and all of whom were
amazed by the support the charity has and the money it has raised.

Donna and Paul both confessed to finding the day to be the most wonderful and joyous occasion which was so
emotional and uplifting and had left them with such happy memories which will help to take away some of the
bad ones of the past.