When I was born 14 years ago, my parents were told that I had a heart condition called Tetralogy of Fallots.  There were 4 things wrong with my heart that needed fixing with complex open heart surgery. I was also deaf in both ears and had poor muscle tone which meant I might not walk.  

I was taken to the Royal Brompton Hospital in London when I was 3 months old for an open heart operation to insert a small tube into my heart which would keep me alive until I was big enough to cope with the full surgery needed to repair my heart.  

Sadly this operation didn't go well and I ended up with multiple surgeries and an 9 week stay in hospital.  During that time I had a cardiac arrest and the doctors felt they had no choice but to perform the full heart repair surgery when I was only 4 months old.  

The Brompton Hospital not only kept me alive against all the odds, but they also helped my parents cope with the bad news, gave them somewhere to stay so they could be close to me at all times and information about my condition.  Thanks to the generosity of the charity helped my family get through it.  

As my operation was carried out when I was so small, the surgeons didn't manage to save my pulmonary valve so I know that one day soon need more open heart surgery to insert a new valve.  

Whilst I wait for that time I have been determined to keep fit and healthy and having followed the Tour de France for a few years I started road cycling during Lockdown.

I want to cycle from my home to the Eiffel Tower in Paris as I would like to give back to the charity that helped me and my parents. Hopefully I can show other families and children with a heart condition that everything is possible.  Olivier Ghez, the surgeon who performed my life saving surgery at the Brompton is French so the cycling to Paris challenge seemed perfect!

My family would have loved to know that I would be able to live such a full life when they were told about my heart problems.  

Hopefully I can show other families hearing the news that their babies need heart surgery that life can be brilliant and you can do all sorts of things, even with a congenital heart disorder!

Please do help me to raise money and awareness which will help other families get through the worrying times and long stays in hospital necessary for so many families like mine.  

As the French would say "Tout est possible!"

The Brompton Fountain raises money to provide medical equipment and fund a large range of support services and vital resources not normally supplied by the NHS. We are based at Royal Brompton Hospital and work closely with the family liaison, play services and wider multidisciplinary clinical and non-clinical teams within the paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) and the children's wards and High Dependency Unit (HDU) meaning that we can buy exactly what is needed and ensure that our resources are to the best possible use. Many of our patients have life-limiting conditions and will require frequent and often lengthy admissions in hospital for surgery and on-going treatment for the rest of their lives. The Brompton Fountain exists to help improve the hospital experience for these young patients and their families.