I am Shani’s Safta (Grandma)

She is my continual inspiration, I want to “Shine for Shani” and do something to challenge myself in her memory.

On Sunday 10th of September I am again joining the Shine for Shani Pulse Challenge 2023 and will this time be walking 13 miles across London.

This is not an easy challenge for me but I will be inspired by my small, defiant and endlessly brave granddaughter

Shani was bossy, funny, and loved being with people.

Did she know she was brave? Well she told everyone at her last Chanukah concert at Immanuel College that she was as she had seen a big dog in the park and was brave. For a little girl who went through so many hospital procedures Shani never realised how truly brave she was.

Shani was born with a complex congenital heart defect - a large hole in her heart and no valve linking her heart to her lungs. Great Ormond Street Hospital implanted a tiny Gore-Tex tube into her heart where the valve should have been in what was intended to be the first of a number of open heart surgeries to normalise her heart and circulation.

Then at 20 months Shani suffered from heart failure and we her family were told she would not recover.

Yet, remarkably, over the next four years, Shani grew into a lively little girl, with a "magic heart". She went to school, made friends and was a happy, inspiring and joyful child who often came to stay with us in Hove with the rest of her family. One wonderful weekend she stayed all by herself.

From the time she turned 5 however, her oxygen levels depleted further, and the doctors decided to operate in February 2017 - tragically Shani did not survive the complex operation.

The Shine for Shani charity is raising money to help other children with heart conditions lead full and happy lives.

Money raised from the Pulse Challenge will go toward cardiac projects at GOSH children’s charity and the Schneider Institute Children’s Hospital in Israel.

Thank you for your support.

Find out more about Shine For Shani at www.shineforshani.org, GOSH at www.gosh.nhs.uk and Schneider at www.schneider.org.il/eng