Grateful dad's leap of faith to aid hospital bid

A grateful dad is raising money for the hospital which saved his son's life.

Matt Pole, of Dishley, near Loughborough, wants to say thank you to Birmingham Children's Hospital, where his son Oliver received pioneering heart surgery.

Oliver was born with a narrow aorta, which meant his heart would not pump blood around his body efficiently.

He then developed cardiomyopathy, a disease of the heart muscle. Without treatment, it was thought he would be lucky to live to his fifth birthday.

However, after an operation in 2009, which had only been done three times in the world before, Oliver is now a thriving three-year-old.

Tomorrow, his dad will be doing an abseil from the top of the Mailbox building in Birmingham to help the hospital's �2 million fund-raising drive.

Matt, 37, said: "I'm determined to raise a good total as the hospital has done so much for us. They saved Oliver's life and gave us terrific support."

Matt said he was not worried by the 130ft abseil and his whole family would be there to cheer him on – his parents, wife Jan, Oliver and Oliver's brother Jacob, six.

Two years ago, surgeon Bill Brawn carried out the ground-breaking procedure, which involved switching the chambers of Oliver's heart so the stronger chamber was pumping the blood. Oliver was the first British child to have the procedure.

Matt said: "He's a different child now, a right little cheeky monkey after being so small and weak most of life.

"Now, he's put on weight and leads a normal life, in fact, we don't stop him doing anything he wants to."

Oliver, who attends nursery three times a week, may need a new heart valve later this year.

Matt said: "We can't thank Mr Brawn and his team enough as they saved our son's life. That's why I'm delighted to be doing the abseil."

The hospital's fund-raising drive will pay for a "hybrid" operating theatre, where different procedures can be carried out on the same patient at the same time. It wants to increase the number of intensive care beds from 20 to 39. The total stands at �775,000.

Lucie O'Reilly, the hospital's business development consultant for fund-raising, said: "We are delighted Matt has decided to raise funds for the Children's Heart Appeal.

"The fund-raising and support families give us is vital."

Source: http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/32715/f/503348/s/12a3ead4/l/0L0Sthisisleicestershire0O0Cnews0CGrateful0Edad0Es0Eleap0Efaith0Eaid0Ehospital0Ebid0Carticle0E32124490Edetail0Carticle0Bhtml/story01.htm

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