Lara raises £300 for Heart Unit
Four year old Lara Yearnshire from Amble has raised £300 for the Childrens Heart Unit at the Freeman Hospital.
Lara’s Mum, Nadia explains, “A week after Lara was born, we noticed her to be panting as well having to work hard to breath. I remember mentioning that I could see her chest sucking in a lot to the midwife when she visited. As a result, we were sent to the NESCH at Cramlington where she was found to have a heart murmur. Lara was diagnosed with two small holes in her heart and a duct that was causing extra blood to flow to the left side and stretching the pumping chamber.
“At 19 months Lara had surgery to close this in order to preserve left ventricle function and the risk of endocarditis (a potentially fatal infection of the inner lining of the heart.) I will be forever grateful to the Freeman Hospital for saving Lara’s life.”
During this time Nadia had been following two special little girls on social media, Beatrix Archbold, age two, whose life was saved by a donor, and Evie, aged four, who is urgently waiting for a heart transplant. She read how low Christmas was on the ward last year and how so many days were lonely. There were beautiful posts about Amble Boat Trips and on Little Shore and realised how much Bea loved Amble, so Nadia and Lara decided to give something back.
They set up a “Gofundme” page https://gofund.me/3d2a71b4 with the intention of raising £100 by swimming 100m but very soon Lara exceeded her target.
Nadia said “We were overwhelmed by the support Lara has received from Friends and family and hope the £305 will help parents buy the children on the Heart Unit Christmas toys, treats or whatever they want to help make their days a little brighter. Lara is an inspirational little girl and I am so proud of her.”
For more information on Bea and Evie and Organ donation visit: Beatrix’s Heart Journey and Evie’s Heart Journey on Facebook, Instagram and twitter.