Healing Little Hearts - Kenya

My journey

After a 13 year career break to bring up my own 3 children, I decided to have a change of career. I am due to complete my paediatric nursing degree in July 2025 and have recently been offered a newly qualified role within Great Ormand Street Hospital. I completed placements on Cardiac Intensive Care Unit and a general Cardiac ward, which I thoroughly enjoyed. After hearing many amazing stories about this wonderful charity I want to join in to make a difference.

I am very fortunate to have been given the opportunity to join the Kenya team for the November 2025 trip on the basis that I raise enough funds for my trip. I am very passionate and committed to help make a difference to ensure children have the opportunity to live the life they deserve.

About Healing Little Hearts

Healing Little Hearts (Kenya) supply a highly skilled healthcare team to travel to Nairobi to work with local doctors and nurses to screen the hearts of children.

The scope of the trip and the impact is hard to describe. The medical team work hard. We use our annual leave to travel to Kenya and hit the ground running when we arrive. The work started months before by the local team who fill clinics with patients with suspected heart problems, we encourage walk ins from all over Kenya and they travel a long way. Our days are long, 8am starts and 9pm finishes or when the last patient has been seen. The operations start when a surgical list has been created. At that point we continue to run the clinics, alongside which the on calls start, to cover both the ITU and the ward.

How the money will be used

The money raised will go towards the cost of my travel to Kenya, our food and water, and the equipment we require to work. You will see exactly where the money has gone by following @healinglittlehearts_kenya where we will be posting day to day activities.

About Congenital Heart Disease

Globally, over one million children are born with Congenital Heart Disease (CHD) each year, with a staggering 90% lacking access to the surgeries that could dramatically enhance their lives. Healing Little Hearts (HLH) mission is to bridge this gap, offering free heart surgeries to the world's poorest children. Their work doesn't just save lives; it opens futures that would otherwise be diminished by health challenges.

Thank you advance and appreciate any contribution to this amazing charity.

Kelly x