When caring students at a Shipley school heard how a charity had helped a popular staff member’s family they were determined to show their appreciation.
Sixth formers from Titus Salt School raised £200 for The Sick Children’s Trust, to say thank you for supporting their post-16 administrator Isabel Kogut when her newborn granddaughter needed major heart surgery.
Tiny Lauren Mae Greenwood, now 16-weeks-old, was rushed to Leeds General Infirmary when she was diagnosed with congenital heart disease at just a few days old.
She needed a gruelling 17-hour operation to try to tackle the problem – caused by the narrowing of the major blood vessels in the heart.
Thanks to the charity, Lauren Mae’s mum and dad, Sara and Matthew Greenwood, were able to stay at Eckersley House in the hospital grounds for five weeks, so they could be close to their daughter at all times.
Isabel, from Shipley, said: “My granddaughter was only a week old when she was diagnosed and as you can imagine for her mum and dad and the rest of the family it came as a huge shock when we found out she would have to have surgery.
“What made this terrible situation only slightly better was the support we received from the charity.
“Staying at Eckersley House kept them all together as a family and meant my other granddaughter, Abigail, could also stay in the house.”
When youngsters on the school’s social committee heard about how the family had been helped they decided to organise a fancy dress Halloween party for their fellow sixth formers.
The proceeds were given to The Trust, which provides free, high-quality “home from home” accommodation for the families of sick children while they are being treated in hospital.
It was founded by paediatric specialists who believed having parents on hand during hospital treatment benefited a child’s recovery.
Isabel said: “It was so thoughtful of the students to independently fundraise for such a good cause.
“Having seen first-hand how this charity helped my family it is great to know my students will help other families like mine in the future.”
The school will continue to support the charity and has nominated it to benefit from future fundraisers.
Leading committee organisers were Jordan Anderson, 18, Brogan Mitchell, 18 and Bethany Maggs, 17.
Jordan said: “ It was a brilliant event.”
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