My grandson Hayden-Starr was born on the 8th of April 2008 with Hypoplastic left heart syndrome. A condition that would have (without the 24/7 care & expertise of all the staff in the cardio units of the Evelina children's hospital) been a definite death sentence...........Please visit Hayden-Starr's website for more details.............

http://www.wishingonastarr.co.uk

Those who know us will remember the journey we made towards Hayden-Starr's birth & first open heart surgery when he was just 3 days old which was performed by Dr David Anderson on the 11th April 2008. Many from the ebay community supported us through the dark hours & months that lead up to that. Check out the thread below.

http://forums.ebay.co.uk/thread.jspa?threadID=1200183968

Now it's time for us to give something back to the hospital, we don't have much money.....however what we do have is a lot of determination and fairly healthy bodies. It is our (Charlotte & Lorraine) pledge to get fitter over the next few months and run the womens 5K challenge on Sunday 7th September 2008.

(Message from Lorraine.....Hayden-Starr's Nana)

Sadly our little man suddenly & unexpectedly died on Tuesday 3rd June aged just 8 weeks old......I can't express how much I miss my little glow worm & each day knowing he isn't coming back is a heart breaker for me.....Life right now is very difficult & some days are almost too hard to get through. We're grateful for the few short weeks we did have him in our lives, something made even more possible by having the ECHO unit at St Thomas' hospital. London.

http://hayden-starr.gonetoosoon.org/

We had pledged to do this charity run while Hayden was still with us.....nothing has changed concerning that goal.

We did it. .....I won't say it was easy because every step I took reminded me of why I was there that day & I had to constantly stop myself from crying. we both met the goal we had set out to achieve.....none of this will bring my little angel home to me but I hope that future babies being born with heart defects will be helped so they can maybe stay longer with the families that love them......I would hate anyone to have to go through this pain.

Please, please, please donate to this very worthy cause. Any amount will be gratefully received, no amount is too small. The image of Hayden-Starr could one day be an image of your child too. Congenital Heart defects affect more than 5,000 children born each year in the UK alone. Every child should have the right to life.....sadly not all do. Please do your part in helping to make congenital heart defects a thing of the past. Donate organs, give blood, give the gift of life.