RECENT NEWS & EVENTS
Lunch in the Heart of Sydney
Sep 04 2023
Lunch in the Heart of Sydney
Friday 29th September 2023
This year the Heart Centre for Children and Kids Heart Research are coordinating our firs...
Rising Star Award
Feb 22 2022
We would like to congratulate Dr Gillian Blue from Kids Heart Research, Heart Centre for Children who was awarded the Rising Star Award at the 2021...
Team Harley - City2Surf 2017
Jun 27 2017
Mum Danielle puts it beautifully:
"Why we started Team Harley: To raise awareness for Congenital Heart Disease in memory of our amazing...
Posted in Thank You's
Soccer marathon bigger and better than ever
Posted by Kylie Flament
on 6 September 2016
The 5th annual 24-hour soccer marathon was held in Dural this weekend and the team far exceeded their fundraising goal, bringing in an incredible $105,000, to be shared between Neurology, the Cancer Centre and the Heart Centre for Children.
It was a fun day/night/day for everyone involved, and a good run-around for The Children's Hospital at Westmead's "kids vs adults" game between 2 and 4pm on Saturday. It was heartwarming to be part of such an active, inclusive event that has provided us with the funds to really make a difference to patients and families. This event just keeps getting better each year. We're already looking forward to what 2017 will bring.
| Posted in:FundraisersStaffThank You's |
City2Surf 2016
Posted by Kylie Flament
on 15 August 2016
Harley would have been incredibly proud of his family and friends this weekend as they walked or ran the City2Surf along with over 80,000 others, and raised a huge $43,000 to support the Heart Centre for Children. Sadly Harley passed away earlier this year, but his Mum Danielle wanted to do something to help other kids with heart disease, so she channelled her energy into fundraising. Here are some photos of the Harley is My Heart Hero (Heart Centre for Children) team from yesterday's 14km race:
Harley is My Heart Hero team at the start line
Awards for the highest individual fundraiser (for Harley's Mum, Danielle) and the highest team fundraiser.
Harley's big brother, Bailey, and his friend Josh at the start line
Harley was very much in everyone's thoughts as the sun shone down on the City2Surf 2016
At the end of the race, balloons were released into the sky with m...
| Posted in:FundraisersThank You's |
Thank you Australian Islamic Mission
Posted by Kylie Flament
on 23 June 2016
This year's Ride Your Heart Out 80km cycle challenge raised a huge $12,000 for the Heart Centre for Children. A big thank you to Omar Eter and Eahab Arja who came and presented us with the cheque today. They are pictured here with Dr Christian Turner, one of our cardiologists.
We're already looking forward to the 2017 challenge, scheduled for late February next year. Head to http://www.rideyourheartout.com.au/ for more information.
| Posted in:FundraisersThank You's |
Our new Heart Lung Machine
Posted by Kylie Flament
on 22 April 2016
We held a celebratory event on Monday to thank the major donors and fundraisers who made the purchase of a new Heart Lung Machine possible. Over 700 people contributed to the funds needed to get this machine, which acts as the heart and lungs for a patient during bypass surgery. We were overwhelmed by the generosity of the community, both in dollar value and in the time and effort that went in to so many fundraising events. Thank you all.
This video explains a little more about how much it means to us:
| Posted in:EquipmentFundraisersMediaPatientsThank You's |
Our New Cardiac Suite
Posted by Kylie Flament
on 19 November 2015
We are delighted to announce that our brand new, state-of-the-art cardiac catheterisation suite opened this week. A HUGE thank you to Sargents Pies Charitable Foundation who funded the $3.4 million upgrade. Cardiac catheterisation is a lot like keyhole surgery, a less invasive option than open-heart surgery. It isn't always suitable, depending on what is wrong with a child's heart, but when it is, it means a much faster recovery time, which is a good thing for kids and their families. This new suite also offers us the ability to perform full surgeries if need be.
The Parramatta Sun interviewed the mother of one of our patients about it. That story here.
...
| Posted in:EquipmentMediaThank You's |
NRL Grand Final tickets help the Heart Centre
Posted by Kylie Flament
on 7 October 2014
The father of one of our patients gave up his NRL Grand Final tickets over the weekend to be at his child's bedside, asking 2GB to auction them off to raise much-needed funds for the Heart Centre for Children. With this act of generosity, Blake brought in $4,000 for us, which will go a long way towards our purchase of a new Heart Lung Machine. Here's the email he sent to Ray Hadley that kicked it all off:
Evening Ray,
I have listened often over the years and therefore new you'd be the man that could make this happen....if possible of course?
I'm sending you this message from the Edgar Stephan Ward at the Children's Hospital, Westmead - where my now 15 day old son is recovering from life-saving heart surgery. To give you the brief rundown, we found out at the 20 week mark during pregnancy that he would need a bypass (arterial switch) within the first couple of weeks of life - he was 4 days old when complications brought the procedure forward...
I have listened often over the years and therefore new you'd be the man that could make this happen....if possible of course?
I'm sending you this message from the Edgar Stephan Ward at the Children's Hospital, Westmead - where my now 15 day old son is recovering from life-saving heart surgery. To give you the brief rundown, we found out at the 20 week mark during pregnancy that he would need a bypass (arterial switch) within the first couple of weeks of life - he was 4 days old when complications brought the procedure forward...
| Posted in:FundraisersThank You's |
Our new exercise stress lab
Posted by Kylie Flament
on 16 September 2014
Welcome to our new exercise stress lab!
Thanks to the generous contributions of Dr KC Lau (one of our retiring cardiologists), the wonderful organisers of the Soccer Marathon earlier this month (who purchased the treadmill component), and VFX (who donated the outstanding new wall mural, which took several hours to put up), our exercise stress lab is now one of the best in the world.
The treadmill and ergometer (a sort of reclining bicycle) are used to uncover abnormal heart rhythms and symptoms such as chest pain that sometimes only show up during exercise. Our old system had been in use for more than 11 years and we could no longer find spare parts for it, so we needed new equipment quickly, and these incredible donors allowed us to do that (and brightened the place up with some great art that was put together by Adrian Paraska, one of our physiologists).
Thank you to everyone who contributed to this vital equipment and lovely new room.
We h...
| Posted in:EquipmentFundraisersThank You's |
Kicking Goals success on Saturday
Posted by Kylie Flament
on 12 September 2014
A huge thank you to George, Vivian, Joe and Clara, and everyone who helped to make this year's Soccer Marathon such a success! The Heart Centre for Children team played at 3pm on Saturday, kicking quite a few goals either way, and not only did we have a great time, but we were thrilled to be presented with a giant cheque that represents enough funding (split with the Oncology department at The Children's Hospital at Westmead) to purchase lots of new equipment. On our list is a treadmill for our new exercise stress lab, a holter monitor and a temporary pacemaker. For more photos and information, head to the Soccer Marathon Facebook page.
| Posted in:FundraisersStaffThank You's |
How Noni the cow helped the Heart Centre
Posted by Kylie Flament
on 7 August 2014
We are constantly amazed by some of the creative ways that families and supporters of the Heart Centre for Children raise funds to enable us to continue our ground-breaking research and to purchase much-needed medical equipment. The family of one of our patients, Zachary, is one of the most creative in a while, putting their calf, Noni, up for sale at the Royal Easter Show and donating half of the proceeds (a whopping $2,500) to us! They also sent us a lovely letter, saying:
"We appreciate all that you did for Zach during his surgeries and hope you can put the money to good use by helping out other children in need."
Knowing that we need to purchase some new monitors and prams for our ward shortly, we can't thank you enough, Zach and family!
If you're inspired by Zach and his family's efforts, click here to see How You Can Help.
...
| Posted in:FundraisersThank You's |
New cath lab
Posted by Kylie Flament
on 22 July 2014
We are delighted to announce that thanks to the incredible generosity of the Sargents Pies Charitable Foundation, the Heart Centre for Children will be replacing our cardiac catheterisation lab in late 2014. This paediatric cath lab is the only one of its kind in New South Wales, and it allows us to perform keyhole surgery on children who would otherwise require open heart surgery. This means that sick children can be treated and go home faster, which is incredible. All of our staff, as well as patients and families, are very grateful for the opportunity to have the best possible equipment thanks to donors like Sargents Pies so that we can have the best results for our sickest little patients. We wish to thank the Sargents Pies team for their amazing gesture and look forward to opening the new cath lab in the new year.
| Posted in:EquipmentThank You's |
