Posted in Thank You's

The Heart Centre for Children entered a team in the inaugural Grin and Bear It challenge, in conjunction with Raw Challenge.  Six kilometres of mud and obstacles lay between us and the celebration breakfast at the finish line, and the team did amazingly well.  Not only did we all complete the course, but we did it while pushing prams through the first two kilometres, carrying weights through other parts, dragging tyres, swimming through ice-filled mud pits, crawling up tunnels, and more besides.  We know that this is nothing compared to what some of our young patients endure, and were happy to raise over $2,000 towards new equipment for the department. Thank you to everyone who supported us (and to the Mum of one of our patients, Rachel, who came to cheer us on and take photos!).  Photos are available on the Bandaged Bear Facebook page. ...

A while ago, a lovely young couple (Rachael and David) kindly asked guests at their engagement party to make donations to us instead of giving gifts.  The result was overwhelming, and with the funds we were able to purchase three brand new pulse oximeters - one large (left) and two small (right).  These help us to measure a patient's oxygen saturation (the amount of oxygen that is getting around the body) which is important in lots of cases - including for patients that need multiple surgeries, who can go home between each one and report in to our nurses about how well their heart is getting oxygen around the body.  Thank you once again to Rachael and David, and all their guests, for their generous support.  It will certainly go a long way, with these machines able to be used for thousands of patients over the next few years. ...

A big thank you to Monty and Edie who were recently decked out in specially-made Heart Centre for Children t-shirts, supporting their Mum Catriona as she did her first ever triathlon (which raised a big chunk of money towards our new echo machines).  Here's a photo that was just sent through of the cuties in their great outfits.

Congratulations and THANK YOU to Catriona (Monty's Mum) who completed her first triathlon on Saturday and raised over $15,000 for the Heart Centre in the process.  From small beginnings with an initial goal of just $1,000 to an incredible effort and touching generosity from the community in just three weeks, Catriona is an absolute star!  Here are a few snaps of her in the Nepean Triathlon on Saturday.  For more information, check out page 6 of the latest Northside Chronicle and keep an eye out for her on Prime TV! Last-minute donations are still very welcome at https://give.everydayhero.com/au/catsmith
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The Heart Centre for Children held a bake sale and book stall today on the ground floor of The Children's Hospital at Westmead and it was a roaring success, thanks to our in-house bakers and some wonderful donations from families too.  Thank you to everyone who helped out and to those who bought a little something, we hope you enjoyed it.  We certainly saw a few smiling faces!  We were raising money for a post-surgery pacemaker because we need a few more of them to put on babies and children after surgery, so that if the heart doesn't quite beat as it should, the pacemaker can intervene instantaneously.  It's really important that our patients have these so thank you again for the purchases and donations.  We raised $1,051 today so we need just $4,449 more to purchase another pacemaker!...

A big thank you (and congratulations) to Rachael and David who had their engagement party over the weekend and kindly asked their guests to make donations to the Heart Centre in lieu of gifts.  The happy couple were hoping to raise enough to purchase a pulse oximeter (right).A pulse oximeter is a special device that can measure a patient’s oxygen saturation in a non-invasive and pain-free way.  This allows us to see how much oxygen is travelling around the body.  Some of our patients have heart conditions that require several stages of cardiac care and surgeries.  These oximeters are vital for us to be able to monitor the child’s oxygen levels while they’re at home between surgeries.  This is one of many measures that helps us to plan when the child might require their next surgery. We need three more pulse oximeters, and Rachael and David's guests were so generous that we will be able to purchase not one but two of these gre...

After many months, many events, and many amazing supporters, we have finally done it...  I had a call this afternoon from Precious Hearts to confirm that they will donate the remaining $7,239.72 to allow us to purchase a new cardiac ultrasound (echo) machine!  Added to the amazing events in Newcastle (the Zipper Tickers dinner) and Sydney (the Echo Gala Dinner), plus the wide range of fundraisers (including Tri and Tri Again and so many others) plus individual donations and efforts, we've at last got the $250,000 we need for a new machine. I can't thank everyone enough for this incredible gift to the Heart Centre.  It will allow us to see more patients with the latest technology, to look inside the heart of an unborn baby, an infant, a child or a teenager in a painless and non-invasive way, to make clinical decisions about treatment and to confirm that surgery has been successful.  It is a milestone for us and one that we couldn't have done wit...

The Echo Gala Dinner on Friday 13 September was a fantastic event.  There was a group of drummers who welcomed us in to the Grand Ballroom and gave us all musical instruments, followed by speeches, eating and drinking, then dancing until the wee hours.  The band were fabulous and included the Dad of one of our little patients.  And at just nine years old, another patient, Paris, blew the audience away with her story.  The feedback since the event has been very positive and it is all thanks to Carol, John and Luke who pulled the whole event together.  Thank you very much to the three of you and everyone who supported the Echo Gala Dinner.  We look forward to knowing the final fundraising figure, which I'm sure will bring us very close to buying the much-needed echo machine. Photo: Dr Steve Cooper with little Jimmy who was on the dancefloor as his Dad's band took the stage at the Echo Gala Dinner ...