Abbie's friends at HSF are doing a sponsored walk on 25 September to raise money for the Brompton Foundation in memory of Sophie Pokorny, Abbie and Karl's 3 year old daughter, who sadly passed away after developing a rare form of heart disease.

After collapsing unexpectedly, Sophie spent a short time in a local hospital before being moved to the Brompton where she went into a coma and was placed on Ecmo life support. Not long after this, she was moved to Great Ormond Street and placed on the heart transplant list. Sadly, Sophie suffered a bleed to her brain and didn't live long enough to receive her new heart. She did however save the lives of two grown men after becoming an organ donor and giving them her kidneys. Our sponsored walk is in recognition of the fantastic care Sophie received in the Brompton Paediatric Intensive Care Unit and the support that the Unit gave to her parents.  

The Brompton Foundation funds the purchase of specific equipment and also funds items to improve the experience of patients and parents such as toys and games for the children and accommodation for the parents in the vicinity of the hospital, as many children need to stay at the hospital for many months at a time, attending school/nursery and playing at the hospital. Younger children's parents are required to stay with them.

Any donations to what is an extremely worthy cause would be very gratefully received - every little helps, and counts. We know you receive a lot of requests for sponsorship, but even a tenner would make a difference if you can spare it. If you are a UK tax payer, please remember that your donation will be eligible for Gift Aid. If you know others that might wish to lend their support as well, please do share a link to this page with them.

Finally, please give some thought to signing up to become an organ donor, if you are not already. The organ donation process is complex and wait times vary, but one reason for long waits is that people don't often donate and even if they themselves would have said yes, they haven't told family and friends and their wishes are then overridden. In England we have an opt in system (which will not change for at least a couple of years). It takes less than 2 minutes to sign up to be a donor at: https://www.organdonation.nhs.uk If you do sign up (or already have), please remember to share your wishes with your family and friends (see the #shareyourwishes campaign for more information).

Thank you for your support.