Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

I, along with my sister Emma, have decided to trek part of The Great Wall of China in memory of Oscar Graham Reader who sadly become an angel watching over his Mum, Dad and Big Brother Toby, at the age of just 9 weeks and 1 day old after a hard fought battle with many heart problems. Emma and I are 30 somethings and VERY unfit. We are both full time childminders and mums to two children each. We are taking part in this trek to raise money for the wonderful childrens chairty, Heart Link. 

Heart Link are based at Glenfield hopital and provide support to children and their families during their time in hospital and long after. Funding from Heart Link have paid for the parents rooms, helipad and even funded the first ever ECMO machine in England. The money raised will go towards the development of the ward which includes more bays, parents accomodation and teenagers rooms. We are hoping that we will be able to furnish a room and name it after Oscar. 

We first got to know about this wonderful chairty when my nephew William was adimitted to Glenfield aged 2 weeks. William had surgery at 2 weeks old and then again at 15 months. Thanks to the great staff at Glenfield, William is now a fit and healthy 12 year old and lives a normal life. And thanks to the support of Heart Link and the facilties they have funded, my sister and her husband had their time in hospital made so much eaiser.

We have been inspired to do this Trek by the very brave Oscar and his equally brave family. 

Oscar's mum has kindly written her story:

Oscar was born on 24th May 2013 at Nottingham City Hospital. Both myself and his dad Jack were so pleased to have a 2nd son and baby brother for our 2 year old Toby. At birth it was identified that Oscar had some dysmorphic features. When put together this normally points to a genetic syndrome, however which syndrome was not known. After a few days it became clear that he wasn't well and was admitted to the Neonatal unit with breathing problems. Initially the doctors thought he had a respiratory infection but over the course of a few weeks with lots of tests and heart scans, it was revealed that Oscar has multiple heart problems. The main cause of Oscar's problems were the hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (thickened heart muscle on both ventricles) and pulmonary valve stenosis (narrowed valve/artery leading to the lungs). He also had a small atrial septal defect (hole in the heart) and a left ventricle cavity obstruction due to the increased pressure in the left side meaning the septum of the heart was swollen. 

Over the course of 7 and a half weeks he was cared for fantastically well at Nottingham City Neonatal unit by some amazing doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals. He was just at the point when we were thinking we may be able to take him home with some extra support in place from oxygen and feeding tubes, however at this time, Oscar's condition deteriorated and his heart began to beat in a very unsynchronised way. This was due to the pulmonary valve narrowing to a life threatening size. He needed an operation to stretch the valve. Oscar was transferred to Glenfield Hospital in Leicester and it was there that he recieved more potentially life saving care although unfortunately for us, Oscar was just too poorly. He spent 5 days on ward 30 at Glenfield with some fabulous nurses and we had a great parent room, all provided by heart link charity. During the operation Oscar's heart stopped for 20 minutes and he had to be put on an ECMO (extra corporeal membrane oxygenation) machine to do the job of his heart and lungs. After 4 days on ECMO, it was clear that Oscar would not recover from the procedure and we lost him on 27th July. 

Heart link do a fantastic job of fundraising to provide lifesaving equipment like ECMO, monitors and all the parent room essentials such as a washing machine and fridge freezer. 

On behalf of my gorgeous baby boy Oscar, Jack, Toby and all the children this money will go towards helping at Glenfield Hospital - THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!! xxxx