Event for Harry’s Heroes

Hello,

Our names are Dominique and Sarah the very proud parents of Harry who recently turned two, this however would not have been the case without some amazing people and organisations that saved his life.

We are looking for sponsorship to be able to give back to the incredible organisations and heroes who saved Harry’s life.

The Charity event will consist of two parts from the 19-24th June. Firstly, Dominique and a small team of family friends will walk 100 miles around the lake district covering all major mountains going over the height of Everest from sea level in four days.

Secondly, both of us and some family and friends will dragon boat race the length of Windermere and back this is twenty miles the equivalent of paddling the English Channel. This will be done with the paddlers for life Windermere, a breast cancer survivors charity which aims to relieve sickness and promote well-being through dragon-boat paddling.

The organisations we will be raising money for are:

Alder Hey Hospital (60%)

They have 12 inpatient and 4 day case theatres, covering around 17,000 general anaesthetics including 24/7 emergencies. Approximately 400 of these were heart surgeries like Harry’s operation. There are almost 200 theatre staff who work in this area. Alder Hey treats around 900 patients per day and 330,000 per year.

Wigan Paediatric A&E (20%)

Last year 24,491 children were treated at Wigan paediatric department, 659 admit to intensive care like Harry. Wigan Hospital also treated 36,035 children as out patients and 3274 staying in the children ward, where Harry has spent nights before.

North West & North Wales Paediatric Transport Service (10%)

They transported 650 critical children last year who could not have moved if it wasn’t for their expertise. 80 specially trained staff, 4 per state of the art ambulance provide 24/7 cover make sure they arrive safely.

Ronald McDonald House (10%)

Has 532 bedrooms in the uk, this ensures 6000 families a year can be there for their seriously ill family members 24/7 on site, staying near by for as long as the recovery takes and this is all free of charge to families who are unable to work during this time.

Harry’s Story

At four days old Harry became unresponsive at home, we rushed him into Wigan Royal Albert Paediatric A&E it was explained to us Harry was extremally poorly and his body was shutting down it took a team of people five hours to stabilise him. We were told if we had arrived minutes later, they would not have been able to keep him alive.

At 1am the North West & North Wales Paediatric Transport Service and their team arrived. We were told that Harry was being transferred to Alder Hey hospital as it was suspected Harry had a problem with his heart. The team took exceptional care of Harry on his journey to Alder Hay and we met them there.

Harry went into critical care, and it was confirmed he had a problem with his heart, we were allowed to see him briefly and were told to go home collect belongings and return in the morning as we would all be living at Alder Hey for the foreseeable.

When we returned in the morning, a cardiac team met with us to explain why Harry was so poorly. They said Harry was born with an undiagnosed heart condition. They explained when babies are born, a duct In their heart seals over and blood is redirected around the top of their heart, however, Harry had a narrowing section in the top chamber which now prevented the blood from getting through, meaning his body was shutting down due to lack of oxygen. Harry needed an operation on the top of his heart to replace a narrow section, this would take place in a couple of days so Harry had the chance to get some strength back after his body shut down.

We then went to the amazing Ronald McDonald house where families with children in Alder Hey Hospital can stay for free for their entire stay. This was incredible to be onsite and have the ability to be there whenever we wanted.

After a few days in critical care Harry underwent an eight-hour operation to replace the narrow section of his heart. Harry’s operation was a success and thanks to the skill and expertise of the team Harry made it through. It was explained to us that Harry’s recovery would take a long time and it may be a bumpy road. Alder Hey provided us with a councillor to support us through this extremally difficult time and to help us process what had happened.

Harry’s recovery started in critical care where Harry had his own nurse looking after him 24/7. Over time the team reduced the amount of medication Harry needed meaning some of his wires and tubes were able to be removed.

Once Harry got a bit stronger, we moved to ward 1c the Cardiac recovery ward, this was where Harry gave us another scare, as Harry was withdrawn from more heart medication his hate rate went up to 240 beats per minute, all the machines alarmed, and a team came running in! They discovered Harry has an extra wire in his heart making it do extra beats not what he needed when recovering from surgery, Harry is still on medication to control this.

Whilst on ward 1c we were taught how to care for Harry and what warning sings we needed to look out for should Harry become seriously unwell again. Harry was tube fed for three months, we had to learn how to do this and what medication he needed. We had to measure and record all the milk he drank to the ml, weigh his nappies, and recorded any sickness. Harry was very underweight, and they weren’t sure if the lack of oxygen had affected any other major organs. After we had shown we were able to do all of this and they were happy Harry was strong enough, it was time to plan coming home.

The thought of coming home terrified us both after what had happened last time we were there. Sarah was recovering from an emergency C section and because of Harry’s health had not been able to recover. Harry needed to be cared for 24/7 we took it in turns to look after him and sleep. Sarah’s auntie was a paediatric sister and helped massively in reassuring us and helping us care for Harry. Without her we are not sure how we would have got through the first couple of weeks. The community nursing team also visited regularly, especially when Harry would pull his feeding tube out, this happened on at least several occasions. Harry was placed under a dietitian and weighed every two weeks to ensure he gained weight at a steady pace without putting to much pressure on his heart. We also attend regular check ups at Alder Hey for heart scans and medication reviews.

Two years later we are so so proud of Harry he really is our heart warrior! It has been incredibly difficult to try and explain in words everything that Harry has been through and how poorly he was, We have attached below photos and videos so you can see what an amazing healthy little boy we have and everything Harry has been through.

We are forever grateful to all the staff (heroes) and organisations who saved Harry’s life all money raised will go towards improving facilities for the heroes, patients, and families. None of the money raised will be used to cover the cost of the event, all costs will be covered by ourselves and other participants.