Story
Jo, Dan, Noah, Avi & Sol are collectively walking 104.8 miles for the Pulse Walking Challenge this coming Sunday.
We’re walking to raise money in memory of an amazing little girl and daughter of close friends, Shani Berman. Shani was born with a complex heart defect: she was missing the valve needed to transport blood between her heart and lungs.
Following heart surgery as a baby and heart failure as a toddler, she grew into a wonderful, boisterous, smiley and inspirational little girl.
But Shani needed more open heart surgery aged 5¾ and, due to complications, she didn’t make it through the operation.
The Berman family started the Shine For Shani charity to raise funds to find ways to increase the life-chances of other seriously ill children.
They are currently trying to raise funds for two initiatives:
£35,000 for a new SmartAblate machine for Great Ormond Street Hospital, where Shani was treated. This is an incredible machine used to treat a range of childhood heart conditions, with the potential to dramatically improve the quality and/or length of stay for patients at GOSH. It does this through destroying cells that are causing the heart to beat irregularly and is performed via cardiac catheter – a procedure in which a thin tube is fed through a tiny incision in the skin, along veins or arteries and into the heart, guided by imaging.
Purchase of a Cardiothoracic Educational Mannequin for Cardiac Intensive Care to allow even more specialised, high-quality training to be delivered.
This will help to treat a range of childhood heart conditions without surgery by destroying just the cells causing the heart to beat irregularly, and making a massive difference to some very unwell children.
Anything you can donate to help would be really appreciated.
Lots of love,