Heart Link, based at Glenfield Hospital, Groby Road, Leicester was formed in 1981, as a support group for parents and families who had a child suffering from a heart defect http://www.heartlink-glenfield.org.uk/

Over the years they have also become increasingly committed to improving facilities for their young patients, their families and providing much needed valuable medical equipment.

Since 1981 they have collected, with marvellous support and generosity of the general public, well over £4 million pounds.

My great granddaughter, Lolah is the reason I will be jumping 13,500ft for Heart Link Children's Charity at Langar Airfield, Nottingham on 27th May 2015.

Lolah's Story
At the age of thirteen days old Lolah was rushed to Leicester Royal Infirmary by ambulance, with breathing difficulties.  After hours of being in resus, Lolah was transferred to the intensive care unit at Glenfield Hospital where they diagnosed Lolah with having four heart conditions, one of which was life threatening and needed urgent surgery. At fourteen days old Lolah had her first open heart surgery which seemed to go quite well, but later that evening Lolah went into cardiac arrest and her heart stopped beating for 51 minutes.  Lolah was put on ECMO and the oxygenator which kept her heart beating and made sure her blood had oxygen within it.  Lolah was kept alive by these two machines for three days. Lolah's heart started to beat for itself and Lolah started showing signs of improvement, but it wasn't long before the setbacks came.  There was no choice but for Lolah to have her second open heart operation.  We were advised that if Lolah survived she would not be able to breath by herself and would require a machine to help her breath.

Out of nowhere, Lolah made a miraculous recovery. After surgery, her breathing improved and she came off the breathing machine 3 days later.  Lolah was then put on vapour for about 3 weeks and then she started breathing for herself.

Lolah came home four and a half months after admission.  She surprised all the doctors, surgeons and consultants.  Lolah truly is a miracle.

With everything Lolah has been through and the length of time spent in intensive care it has left her with some problems.  Lolah is NG fed, which means she has a delay in swallowing which causes the milk to go into her lungs.  This could last until adulthood. Lolah has development delay and is unable to do what the average 1 year old can do. She also has a weakened immune system which she takes prevention antibiotics for.  Lolah also has a lung disease which should get better over time.

Lolah isn't promised to walk or eat properly, but she has fought long and hard to be here and she will have the best of what we can give her.

Thank you for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity. So it’s the most efficient way to donate – saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

I would be grateful if you can please pass on the link to anyone you think might like to sponsor me for such a worthy cause.