Evie’s Heart Journey

14/11/2025

If your child has ever had a long stay in hospital, this may be of real interest 💛

A new project led by a GOSH consultant and intensivist is aiming to improve the journey and outcomes for children undergoing bone marrow transplants. They’re hosting a talk next Saturday at the Freeman Hospital — and it’s open to all families whose children have had extended hospital stays, regardless of condition. Lunch and travel expenses are provided.

Every family’s experience is unique, but many of us find comfort in connecting with others who understand what hospital life is really like.

You can find full details about the event here:

Paediatric intensive care (PIC) admission following haematopoietic stem cell transplant: optimising the patient journey.

13/11/2025

🎄🎅🏻 CHRISTMAS APPEAL 2025 🎅🏻🎄

So the response to this appeal has truly been unbelievable. I have received over 40 bedding sets so far from the wishlist and I have not yet used any of the money.

After speaking to Ward 23 yesterday morning, they are truly overwhelmed with the response as well. Storage is something to think about and I truly didn’t anticipate the level of generosity from everyone (like I mentioned before £300-£500 was my initial target.

The team at the Freeman are so happy with the Christmas bedding but have asked if I could use some of the money for some vouchers for the long term parents, a selection of Christmas Pyjamas for the children as well as normal bedding (when the Christmas bedding goes out the normal bedding is put away for the month but does get used the rest of the year).

I hope that everyone who has donated is happy with some of the funds being redistributed to these other items. It will truly mean so much to the families that are there now and also ones who may find themselves admitted over Christmas. 🎄🫶🏻

Thank you all in advance for the kindness and generosity shown ❤️

10/11/2025

🎄 CHRISTMAS BEDDING APPEAL 🎄

Please share and tag your friends.

I am raising money and collecting donations of brand new Christmas bedding to drop off to the Freeman Hospital in a few weeks for Ward 23 and the PICU team. I will post the JustGiving link and the Amazon wishlist below.

Evie lived in hospital for 18 months and Christmas time is a heartbreaking time to be in hospital when it is traditionally a family time holiday period. This was Evie on Christmas Eve 2023. You can see her Christmassy bedding and how much we tried to make it special for her 💛

If anyone knows of any big retailers that are big in the community that might be able to make a donation from stock. That would be a big help too. I will pop the wishlist below and I will keep it open for 2 more weeks and then I will be gathering it all to take away.

THANK YOU FOR THOSE WHO HAVE ALREADY SUPPORTED IT WILL MEAN SO MUCH ❤️🎄🥰🎅🏻

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/christmasbedding23?utm_medium=FA&utm_source=CL

https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/2Y7N6OWE3IM8Q?ref_=wl_share

08/11/2025

My beautiful girl. She was a flower girl two weeks ago and was a little princess 🧡

£1,500 has officially been raised so far, unbelievable amount thank you all and many bed sets have been arriving the last few days now so it will be fantastic to deliver these to the Freeman in a few weeks 🥰

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/christmasbedding23

06/11/2025

Thank you so so much, I have been receiving some of the bedding that you have all ordered and it is beautiful ❤️🎄

We are now at £1440 which is phenomenal. Thank you all that have donated either money or bedding. It will be such a joy when I can deliver the bedding in a few weeks ❤️

If anyone works for any shops/retailers that would also like to donate any Christmas bedding they may sell. That would be much appreciated. The links are all below 🥰

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/christmasbedding23?utm_medium=FA&utm_source=CL

https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/2Y7N6OWE3IM8Q?ref_=wl_share

05/11/2025

Wow I am truly blown away!

I had in mind that if I could raise between £300-£500 then I would be able to buy one bedding set for each of the 31 beds at Freeman (Ward 23 and PICU). Now each bedding set gets changed every day and they will go through extensive cleaning and be used again but it was very easy for bedding to run low as everyone always loved the Christmas bedding as it was so lovely!

I post this not even 48 hours ago and yous have blown me away with raising over £1000 already and I have had 30 bedding sets ordered with 3 already delivered yesterday.

I just want to say a massive thank you. It truly makes my heart full seeing people band together to help. This will benefit so many families this Christmas who might be living on the ward, find themselves admitted over Christmas unexpectedly or have planned operations and admissions during December. ❤️

Please find the links below again to keep going. Either justgiving or amazon wish list. I aim to get all bedding to Freeman at the start of December 🎄🎅🏻

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/christmasbedding23?utm_medium=FA&utm_source=CL

https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/2Y7N6OWE3IM8Q?ref_=wl_share

03/11/2025

So normally, if I fundraise I do it for a specific cause which are all amazing and do their own special activities. However this Christmas I want to do something different. Rather than raise money for a specific charity, I want to raise money so that I can go out and buy brand new Christmas bedding for Ward 23 (Children’s Heart Unit) and the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit.

There are 12 beds on the Ward (Bay, Nursery and Cubicles) and 6 beds in HDU which is also a part of the Ward 23. PICU has 13 beds (Beds and Cubicles). So that altogether is 31 beds in total if at max capacity.

You might wonder why bedding? Well Evie spent 2023s Christmas living on the ward in the middle of her 18 month stint waiting for her heart transplant. Evie loves Christmas like any other kid and one thing she loved doing was picking her Christmas bedding. Barbara the amazing legendary domestic on Ward 23 would come round every morning and ask Evie which sheets she wanted and the ward do have some Christmas bedding which makes life more homely! However, living in hospital with measuring fluids/urine/bloods etc these sheets understandably can get worn out quickly due to constant washes. My aim is to raise money to buy a brand new bedding set for each bed. It can be usually between £10-15 approx each one depending on where you buy them. Alternatively, If people would like to buy a set and pass it onto me that would be amazing. Once collected, I will be doing a drop off to the Freeman Hospital ❤️

With it being a sterile environment and children are clinically very vulnerable, these sets have to be unopened and brand new.

I have set up a justgiving page and I will keep it open until the end of November. All funds raised will go towards the bedding collection.

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/christmasbedding23?utm_medium=FA&utm_source=CL

Amazon Wish List here too if easier ❤️

https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/2Y7N6OWE3IM8Q?ref_=wl_share

Thank you all in advance 🎄

29/10/2025

So much emotion from this news. A precious angel has given Penelope that precious gift of life.

It truly is the most overwhelming time but one full of hope ❤️

🩷 A hero we’ll never meet has given Penelope a second chance at life 💖✨

❤️ In their darkest moment, another family said yes and gave the greatest gift 🪽💔

🌸 We’ll share a little update on how Penelope’s doing soon but today, we want to honour her donor and their incredible family.

23/10/2025

How is this even a question. Of course they should. Speaking firmly as a parent of a child who has been critically ill for a sustained period of time.

Evie was in hospital for over 500 days. We were extremely fortunate to have amazing people who helped raise money for our family to survive and even after one year and also some amazing charities that help support, I had to return to work because financially it is not feasible to live in hospital.

Should the parents of critically ill young children get support so they can be at their hospital bedside? https://www.itv.com/news/2025-10-22/over-100-mps-demand-law-change-so-parents-of-critically-ill-children-get-support

18/10/2025

October 2022, 2024 and 2025 ❤️

29/09/2025

It is World Heart Day today ❤️

Most people see the heart meaning love. However for our family, the heart is life. Evie’s original heart was in heart failure since she was 4 months old. She was placed onto a mechanical heart for 16 months. Then she received a new donor heart in June 2024. This heart came from a very special little person. We don’t know a lot about Evie’s donor family. But we do know that their child saved Evie’s life with a heart transplant. There is no greater gift.

Everyone takes life for granted sometimes. But when you see the difference a working heart does, you are grateful for so much more in life. Grateful to Evie for living and holding on especially in those tough times where she might not have made it. Grateful to the NHS Freeman team for helping her at all costs to keep her alive. And finally, grateful for the donor family and their precious child who saved Evie’s life with organ donation. 🫀🩷

Sign up for organ donation below and register your decision.

https://www.organdonation.nhs.uk/register-your-decision/